Stakeholders in this country’s Juvenile Justice Reform programme were involved in a day and a half working session earlier this week, ahead of the two-day training workshop that came to an end today.{{more}}

Participants from the Ministry of National Mobilization, Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, Youth Affairs Department and other agencies met with facilitators at the Sunset Shores Hotel Conference Room, where a number of topics were discussed in relation to juvenile justice reform risk assessment.

These included an introduction to risk assessments in relation to the juvenile justice sector, steps to implementing a risk assessment system, risk assessment for juveniles, as well as a number of panel discussions.

Facilitators for the training sessions included Dr Gina Vincent, associate professor of the University of Massachusetts, David Popo, head of the Social Development Unit of the OECS Secretariat, and Dwight Calixe, regional project coordinator of the Juvenile Justice Reform Project.

Following the training session, participants were slated to examine a number of key areas of juvenile justice reform, including topics such as legislation, capacity building, modernization of programmes, civil society strengthening and a systems approach to child protection and justice.

The events were coordinated by the Ministry of National Mobilization, USAID, and the OECS Secretariat.(JJ)