Vincentians benefit from two major USAID projects

Vincentians are benefitting from a modernized juvenile justice system and are better equipped to adapt to climate change as a result of two major projects supported by the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

USAID Mission Director for the Eastern and Southern Caribbean, {{more}}Christopher Cushing, highlighted these developments during a close-out ceremony for the St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) phase of the Caribbean regional US$5.8 million “Juvenile Justice Reform Project” and the US$9.5 million “Rallying the Region to Action on Climate Change” project held at the Liberty Lodge Boys Training Centre.

Cushing told the gathering that of this US$15.3 million regional investment, the US government provided approximately $1.3 million in assistance to support reform efforts in SVG’s juvenile justice sector and $1.5 million to improve the country’s resilience to climate change.

Commending the SVG government for improving its juvenile justice system, he lauded the local implementing committee for ensuring that programming was integrated across both the public and non-governmental sector and that the island’s Social Services Department was reorganized to enhance efficiency.

To help reform the country’s juvenile justice system and meet international standards, the US envoy noted that the Juvenile Justice Reform Project supported the development of a National Juvenile Justice Strategy and a draft Child Justice Bill, which seeks to protect vulnerable children placed before the judicial system. He further noted that over 200 juvenile justice practitioners and media personnel had undergone extensive and specialized training to enhance their knowledge of modern approaches resulting in improved treatment of youth within the system.

In addition to making significant progress on juvenile justice reforms, Cushing said under the RRACC project the government of SVG also “took positive steps toward enhancing its resilience to climate change.”

To combat severe water scarcity, USAID supported a rainwater harvesting and disaster management demonstration project at six designated disaster shelters in St Vincent and Bequia. In Bequia, additional water storage was provided for the island’s desalination plant and distribution lines installed to facilitate reliable access to freshwater.

“Turning public buildings and disaster shelters into water catchment centres provides a welcome solution to citizens who lack access to water during severe droughts and emergencies,” said Cushing.

Reiterating the US government’s continued commitment to supporting future juvenile justice and regional climate change initiatives, Cushing said the activities and lessons learned in SVG were models which could be easily replicated across the region.