During the period of January to present the Social Protection Division has engaged in a number of activities for the elderly throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines: Union Island, Calliaqua, Black Point and Georgetown. The elderly were given a round the island historic tour of Union Island.
They visited places such as: The health center, Susgren newly constructed bridge, Union Island Secondary School, Big Sand, and the airport. The elderly sang and dance to folk songs (big drum dance) along with playing games such as bingo and ring games (there is a brown girl in the ring etc). Prices were given to them as well (The elderly are asking for us to come more often to do these activities).
A press conference was done on the International Day of Family by the Hon. Frederick Stephenson while at the same time the department meshed the young generation along with the elderly to give a hearth warming presentation on the said topic. Public awareness programs were conducted at Union Island, Calliaqua, Georgetown, Troumaca Government School, Evesham Learning Resource Centre, Gomea Primary School, and Belmont Primary School.
There are fifty (58) families under the Client Empowerment Program, clients are exposed to a wealth of knowledge and skills that will better equip them to become self-empowered. A Social Assistance Enrichment Workshop was conducted on 14th January 2019 at the Foreign Affairs Conference Room to assist in this regard.
To date, the Department has eighty – one (81) home helpers who cater to the needs of the vulnerable population in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
There are approximately two hundred and seventy (270) individual beneficiaries of this service. This year, an additional thirty (34) persons were trained and are scheduled to graduate on 11th October 2019. This same number of persons was trained in sign language. In collaboration with Voice of the Disabled twenty-five (25) home care providers were trained to take care of their loved on