EQUITY and Empowerment Minister Joachim Henry has been underscoring government’s commitment to championing the rights of vulnerable populations in society, with a particular focus on children and the youth.
Henry, who recently was the recipient of a courtesy call from a high-level Martinique-base Kiwanis delegation with oversight of Eastern Canada and the Caribbean, highlighted his Ministry’s mandate of advocating for the downtrodden and lending a voice to matters affecting the rights of children.
“We are living at a time when our population is changing and thus we have an aging population. Our young people do not have the amount of care they had before and as such our values have changed and so Kiwanis and other organizations like yours play a very important role, at a time in our history where support for children is very critical,” remarked Henry.
“Our Kiwanis organization, is an organization that takes care of our children so our children are priority number one. In all of the activities that we do, children play a very important role,” stated Kiwanis Governor for Eastern Canada and the Caribbean Anthony Haile.
Flanked by Deputy Permanent Secretary Irene Gaspard and President of the Kiwanis Club of Gros Islet Peter Alexander, Minister Henry told the French delegation comprising both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, that as appreciative as he was of their efforts over the years, still more advocacy was required. Minister Henry encouraged Kiwanis officials to partner with him and continue to lobby and lend their voice towards developmental efforts that will benefit children and secure greater funding from government, donor agencies, and other like-minded philanthropic organizations.
“The strongest thing you can do is to speak out. Sometimes we believe the strongest thing we do is when we help physically, however, when we speak out on behalf of our children, it goes further than when we do. I would like for an organization like yours to join us and speak out.
When you speak out it makes it easier for me to go to the Prime Minister to get monies for what we have to do, because I can say this is what the Kiwanis are saying. Advocacy is important to the work that we do and it can unlock doors for more resources,” exclaimed Minister Henry.
For the 2023/2024 financial year, a strong focus of the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment has been centered on children, with several interventions, policies and progammes heavily skewed towards putting children first. The Ministry has also zeroed in on children with disabilities.
For his part, the Kiwanis Governor said his primary mission was to assess how the various Kiwanis chapters, under his jurisdiction, were working in the interest of communities and in caring for the needs of children and the less fortunate.