The Ministry of Health, Wellness and Nutrition, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, and the Government of Canada, recently convened a two-day workshop aimed at strengthening advocacy efforts around Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Saint Lucia.
The SMART Advocacy Capacity Building: Strategy and Design Workshop, held at the Bay Gardens Inn from April 23 to the 24, 2026, brought together health authorities, non- governmental organizations, youth advocates, and civil society representatives to build capacity and refine strategic engagement in the advancement of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights policies and services.
Camille Marcotte, the Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist with the United Nations Population Fund underscored the significance of this moment, noting that the programme has supported the development of key frameworks including the Adolescent Health and Development Standards and the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy for Saint Lucia. “We are gathered here for the Build Back Equal program. It’s a program that started a few years ago, funded by the Canadian government and implemented by UN Women and UNFPA. So that program is now reaching the end, but over the past few years, we have supported the development of the adolescent health and development standards, and also the sexual and reproductive health strategy. And so now today we are gathered here to really kind of build momentum and the capacity of health authorities, youth advocates, and civil society to go from the elaboration phase to the implementation phase. And so the advocacy workshop means to give our partners really all the means necessary to kind of push that agenda forward.”
Central to the workshop’s agenda is ensuring that policies and services are aligned with the real and pressing needs of young people in Saint Lucia. “What we really want… is to make sure that we work together… with our partners for the policy and services to align with the needs of the youth of St. Lucia. We want to make sure that the accessibility of services can increase, that they respond to their needs. There has been a lot of efforts in that sense over the past few years in St. Lucia. Now what we want to see is really policies put in practice, looking at the gaps and how can we gather together to cover these gaps and make sure that you can access services.”
The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Adjani Hilbert, an experienced consultant working with UNFPA, whose advocacy expertise spans the Caribbean, Eastern Africa, Europe, and Asia. The SMART Advocacy Workshop represents a continued commitment by the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Nutrition to strengthen civil society’s role in advancing SRHR in Saint Lucia.