 Hello and welcome to Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service. I'm your host, Jacques Hengsten-Komten, and today we're going to be talking about UNICEF, its general purpose in the Eastern Caribbean. And my guest today is Mr. Peter Bolt, who is the UNICEF representative for the Eastern Caribbean. Welcome to the program. Thanks, Jacques. I'm really happy to be here. It's good to have you here. So for those of us who don't know, I want you to tell us a little bit about UNICEF's general purpose around the world. Yes, UNICEF or the United Nations Children's Fund is a global organization, a global child rights organization. We are present in almost every country in the world, and we work in almost any condition around the world, be it sometimes humanitarian crisis and development settings, but also focusing on children's rights in many other countries. Okay, so do you generally get a lot of, you go to, let's say, war-torn countries, countries affected by extreme natural disasters or anything like that? We are there on the ground in almost every country. So we adapt very quickly if the situation has changed. For instance, I'm just coming from Romania, and I moved to the Eastern Caribbean region, but we had to quickly change gears in Romania because of the Ukraine war, and Romania received almost a million and a half refugees in the last couple of months, most of them being women and children. So we had to adapt, but I think UNICEF is very capable of adapting to local context, and local context can change very quickly, as I think you know in St. Lucia as well and in this region, because of the natural disasters. So Anne, why don't you tell us a little bit about your own personal background? So I'm a teacher originally. I taught in high school for a few years. Then I moved back to school myself and got involved into international relations and joined UNICEF actually in this region in 1994. I'm married, I have four children, two of them will join me here in the region and two of them are actually working and studying in the Netherlands. Oh good. Are they going to move here permanently or just trying to visit? No. Me and my family will move here permanently, within the United Nations system. We have a rotation policy. So in the international segment, you kind of move every four or five years. Depending again on the context where you are, if you're in a humanitarian crisis, it's usually a bit faster. But here in the Caribbean, I hope to stay for at least four or five years. So you've been in the regions since 1994? Not in the regions. My first posting was in Barbados actually. At that time, I was responsible for Suriname more. So I didn't get to know most many of the islands, because I did a lot of travel and work in Suriname. But we didn't have an office at that time in Suriname, now we do. And I worked with Barbados as a base basically. So that was 1994. But then since then, I did seven moves. And I worked in Indonesia, in the state of Palestine, in India, then Romania, and in the US and headquarters. I also had a few years as well. And so I'm kind of coming full circle back to the Caribbean. Yeah. So you had an extensive career in diplomacy, I guess? Yes, but really kind of standing up for children's rights. Because no matter what country you are, no matter how developed really, challenges remain. And with the Convention of the Rights of the Child, we have a really holistic mandate in terms of focusing on children's rights, ranging from protecting children, protecting even in Europe now, we're dealing with migrant children, we're refugee children. So you see that some of the countries that on paper are quite well developed. They're still providing assistance with some of these kind of situations. Okay. And I wanted to tell us, I mean, in detail about your mission specifically in St. Lucia. Yes. I had a short mission, but it's one of my first missions. Of course, being based in, working for the Eastern Caribbean, we cover 12 countries. So that's quite an agenda, I would say. So I'm very happy that St. Lucia is among the first countries to visit. I had a very good visit. My main purpose, I can't claim to know everything about St. Lucia, about the region. So my first weeks, and I literally started three weeks ago, my first weeks are really to learn. And I mentioned earlier the adaptability of Unit 7, I think. For us, it's always important to understand the local context, the local situation of children, what are the challenges. There are similarities, there are things you can read about that. But nothing beats actually visiting the island, meeting with the communities, meeting with the officials, meeting with civil society, and learning about what the situation of children is and what the main challenges are that the children are facing. Yeah, so I know you've only been here a few days, but how do you like St. Lucia so far? It struck me how beautiful and how green it is. I knew it was going to be beautiful, but it struck me, and I'm telling my colleagues and everybody, like, it's really green. It's natural resources are just spectacular, and the people have been more than welcoming, I would say, from government side to everybody I meet. It's been a very warm visit, and I go back to Barbados this evening with a very strong sense of collaboration, of companionship with the country. So in that way, I would like to thank everybody in St. Lucia for somehow the way of welcoming people and making them feel part of the community. So also I had a number of very good meetings with the prime minister, with several ministers, ministries, and again, to learn, but also to kind of build up a strong connection with them because we are partnering in terms of fighting for children's rights, and I think UNICEF doesn't claim to be able to change the conditions on our own. It has to be done through these kind of partnerships. I hope your meetings with the prime minister were quite productive. They're very productive. I learned about the youth economy, which is, I think, I know, and I learned particularly about, I know, this is, I think, one of the challenges, not just in St. Lucia or in the Caribbean. I think we see it in different parts of the world that youth unemployment is a really big issue, and I think to address it, we need to start early. We need to start with children, investing in children, investing in education programs for all children, but also making sure that our education programs are relevant for what society needs today, and I think here there's some work to be done. So I think, yes, it was a very productive meeting, a very first meeting, and since then I learned from several of the other ministries a lot more about what is already being done in terms of building up this youth economy, but also in terms of working on education, working in the health sector, working on social protection and social services. So in that way, I'm getting a good sense that there is a strong sense about the challenge, understanding about the challenges, and also a clear strategy in terms of how to address that. Okay. We're due for our first break. When we get back, I know we've spoken about your mission in St. Lucia, but I want to talk about your mission in the wider Caribbean. Okay. So we'll be back in a moment. Please stay tuned. And kindling our consciousness, Emancipation 2022 presents the LaWoS Festival Guamfele, a bus of color, culture, food and entertainment at the Constitution Park on William Peter Boulevard Castries, Tuesday, August 30th at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Come be part of a cultural sensory experience. For more information, go to CDF's book page, participating partners, government of St. Lucia, CDF, NRC, Umbutu, ICOP, NYC, FRC, Denry Knopf and South Constituency, Souffre Council, Souffre Foundation, Archaeological and Historical Society, SLHDA and Events St. Lucia. Welcome back. You're watching Issues and Answers. I'm here with Mr. Peter Bult, who is the UNICEF representative for the Eastern Caribbean. Now, before we went on the break, we were talking about your mission specifically in St. Lucia. So I wanted to, I want you to tell us about the, your mission in the wider Eastern Caribbean. Yes. So our mission is really to support children in their, in terms of better developing them, better protecting them, in terms of, I don't know, ensuring that they can meet a growth to their best potential. So our work in the Caribbean is focusing on 12 countries, but as UNICEF, we are also present with other offices which I'm not directly responsible for in the other parts of the Caribbean. So my focus is really on the Eastern Caribbean. The real challenges I see is, I mean, first of all, I think a lot of progress has been made. Let me say that. I think since many countries in Lucia signed and ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993, very early on after the conception of that convention. And I think many other countries did at the same time. And I think a lot of progress has been made since then. A lot of progress has been made specifically in the health sector. We've been reducing mortality. We've been providing access, good access to maternal and child health. A lot of progress has been made in education in terms of enrollment rates for children. Protecting, I think today's children are better protected than they were at that time, protected from violence. But that said, I think we also know that there are a number of different challenges. All challenges, challenges that existed then, which we continue to have to work on. But also a lot of new challenges because, I know, the last couple of years has been quite unique from many different angles. I mean, the COVID pandemic has had a lot of additional strain on children. I would say that children actually bear the brunt of the pandemic. Their mental health, the lockdowns have affected their mental health, have affected their psychosocial well-being, but also their education. Many children were not able to follow the online learning. And I think even more than half probably were not able to follow online learning. So really the last two years of education, poverty has increased during the pandemic. We noted increase of violence, domestic violence, families being at home, not being able to go, no livelihoods, increasing demands and pressures on the households affecting the mental health, but also resulting in increased violence. So I think the pandemic has done a lot of damage. Children being really kind of bear the brunt of that. And this is, I think, something that now, coming out of the pandemic, we really have to focus on and address. That increase of poverty is a real big concern. Actually, the inequalities increased because those children, for instance, that were not able to access online learning, were already the children probably who were not in the most favorable conditions. So their gap, because now they lost two years of learning on top of that, is really big. So we really have to think about what this has done to our societies and what we now need to do to be able to address that. We can't gloss over and go back with business as usual. I think we really have to put some system in place. But that's also an opportunity. And I think, as UNICEF, we see this also as an opportunity. I mean, the most obvious one is, for instance, the online environment. We were not successful in making sure that all children were able to access learning. But we did learn that online learning and using digital tools in the classroom and to educate our children is feasible and possible. So I think we have to now use the coming years to really use that to our advantage and complement the teacher with digital tools and facilities to strengthen the learning. Because, as I referred to earlier, the relevance of our education is not as it was before. The skills that young people need to have to be able to be a productive member of society, to be a good employee are not the same as what they used to be. And I don't think the education sector, and this is not in St. Lucia. This is not in the Caribbean. This is a global challenge. The education system needs to reform significantly. And I think this is why the pandemic has opened our eyes to this, has already brought some of these technologies into the classroom, which we now have to explore. Because that is part of, I think, the reform agenda, continuing going forward with bringing stronger technology into the agenda. But also learning different skills, skills that are allowing children to become more resilient, more independent, more communicative, more collaborative. So we need to bring in a new type of skill set. Not to do away with some of the basic skills, because the other part of the learning crisis is that actually some of our children, a large part of our children, come out of the education system, not being able to have the basic skills, being able to properly read or write. Again, this is a global challenge. Secretary General of the United Nations has called and together with UNICEF is organizing a global summit in next month. And your government has already prepared a little analysis on the situation of education in St. Lucia. And we'll go to that summit as well to be able to debate what needs to happen globally in terms of the education sector and how this reform can take shape. Because that needs to change, we all agree on. Now, how? We have some of the ingredients, but I think here we need to, as a world, collectively learn. And I think this is one of the strengths of UNICEF, being president of so many countries, having so many different experiences, not having recipes that are valid for all countries, but learn from all countries. But things can be shared. So this is, I think, a real opportunity. So education is one of the big challenges. Addressing poverty, which can also be done through education, because I think education is a strong strategy to fight poverty. But also we need to strengthen the overall social protection programs around the region. And again, here in St. Lucia, we have a strong partnership with your government to be able to already strengthen the social protection program, to better target social protection programs, but not to only look at the cash component, but also at the cash transfer component, but also to look at the service provision. And I think here I see a strong need across the Caribbean, at least the countries I've visited so far, to really reconnect vulnerable households to basic services at the local level, and make those services more agile and more proactive vis-a-vis vulnerable households. Vulnerable households are struggling on a day-to-day basis, but making ends meet have typically a larger number of children. So their threshold to access even a very local government service is very, very high. They won't. We need to kind of relook at the social service provision and see how we can knock on the children on the family's doors, rather than waiting for the vulnerable families to come to the service, to be able to connect them into the programs that are available. Because programs are available to support them. There are good social protection programs. There are good services available. But vulnerable households need a little bit of a push or a little bit of a help to connect. And this requires a different mindset of some of our social services. It also requires a better connecting of social services with each other. So the connection of a local health clinic to the social worker in the community to the school counselor in the school. And I think those three professionals, probably supported by some of the other influences at the local level, can actually ensure that vulnerable families don't remain in their isolation and don't get deeper into the visual cycle of poverty. But actually it can be helped to take out of poverty. Again, I think there's enough resources in the Caribbean, human resources, funding to be able to do this. But it requires a different mindset, a different way of working at the local level. And I can see this would be tremendously beneficial for fighting poverty specifically. So this is something in the social protection, social services area we're working on. I can talk about many other areas, but I'll let you maybe. It's actually interesting that you mentioned social protection because on another episode of Issues and Answers I had with the Ministry of Equity. They were speaking about reforming our social protection policy and legislative reform. So I know at least we're on the right path for now in St. Lucia. You are on the right path and what I'm talking about is something that I think we're working on collaboratively already. Again, we are very much adapting to what's here and I think I know the government has done a lot of work in terms of social protection, in terms of reforming the law, and it's also wants to continuously learn in terms of how to better reach the most vulnerable. And we're facing a larger number of most vulnerable these days and we're facing new challenges. One thing I also, if I may talk a little bit about is actually engaging children and young people directly into this work. And UNICEF I think is a strong advocate for giving children a voice. And I'm not talking about only young, young, young, young people or youth. I'm talking even from the youngest age possible because you can give a voice to a child at any age, at the family level first of all, or at the school level, or in the community, or in the clubs and the associations that they're part of, or in governance. So I'm a strong believer that this is absolutely critical for the future of a country. We need to listen more to our young people, to our children. We need to try to encourage them to participate, empower them to participate at all these levels. And I think that can make a really change in the outlook of how we look at some of the problems that we continue to face and help us find new solutions, but also help prepare a stronger community from the start because I think we need to rebuild that community everywhere around the world. I see it everywhere. I mentioned I come from Romania. Here also we need to really bring children in engagement, volunteerism, taking part of your community, taking part of like keeping your community safe, keeping Europe. So recognizing if there's any challenges or any problems and tackling them early on, you need a strong community for that. I totally agree. I wanted to continue, but we're due for our second and final break. So just stay with us for a little while. We'll continue along your line of thought. OK. You're watching Issues and Answers. Please stay tuned. We'll be back in a few moments. Keeping hands clean is important for good health. However, after a disaster staying clean is hard to do, especially if there is no pipe or water. Simple things you can do, stay clean and remain healthy are wash your hands with soap and clean water. If these are not available, sanitizers with alcohol are options. Wash your hands many times during the day, before preparing food, eating, caring for a sick person or baby, treating a cut wound or sore. Wash hands after using the bathroom, changing diapers, caring for animals, caring for sick or injured persons after handling garbage. Washing your hands is one of the best ways to prevent illness. For further information, contact the Bureau of Health Education at telephone number 460-5349. Welcome back to Issues and Answers. We're here with the UNICEF representative for the Eastern Caribbean, Mr. Peter Bult. Before we went on the break, you were talking about engagement with children, especially to encourage them into your line of work. Yes. I think this is extremely important. Children make up 20, 25%, I think, of the solution population. Globally, it's more like 40% of the global population. And we're not engaging that resource. Children have ideas. Children have thoughts. Children see the world around them and look actually at the world with very different eyes. So one thing why we need to change good, not because of simply their right to participate, which it is. It's actually one of the rights of the convention. But it's also a need for them to participate because they still think very differently than us. They are not yet compartmentalized in their thinking. They're not yet have big family responsibilities that weigh into their thinking. They're open-minded. And I think the world needs open-minded ideas and open-minded thoughts. It's not for nothing that we see that some of the biggest climate change activists are actually children who are basically driving the advocacy agenda on change for the climate. So I think this is what we need to do in every society, work with our children from an early age on, give them a voice, listen to them, and try to bring some of these ideas into the decisions that we take at every level, at the school level, engage them in the school and how the school is being managed, how the school is, how students are learning in the school. But then, going up also, give them a space. I mean, I know you have youth programs or I hope you also bring children into your program to talk and listen to them because they really have something to say and they really have opinions about what things need to change. And I think we need this in this world because globally, again, speaking, we see inequalities rising. We see conflict not abiding. Actually conflicts increasing around the world. We see education becoming less relevant. We see climate, the climate crisis, getting worse and worse. So I think we need new solutions. We need new ideas. 25% or 40% of the global level of people are not used in that decision making. Let's work with them and then use them. And I think I'm a really strong believer on this. This is something I would really like to work with the solution government on as well. We had some discussions around that with some of your officials and I think I'm really hopeful that we can build this base of engagement with children. Closely linked to that is we often see children as a charitable. It's like they're recipient of something. They're recipient of education. They're recipient of a gift or of a service. But we need to start seeing them more as an active citizen, as an active engager. We need to invest in them also consciously. Invest in their education, invest in their protection, invest in their health. Because when you do this early on, even at age one or two, when you invest in them, you recognize problems early on if there are certain challenges. But you also build and develop them early on to be a responsible, productive, active, positive, happy citizen. And I think for that, that requires conscious investments, a real strategy of investment in children. And I think this is what I'm really looking forward to work with the solution government on as well to bring this kind of, you know, consistent effort and consistent investment in terms of the children directly and all their aspects of development. Within the St. Lucia government, and I don't know if there are any outside organizations, are there any organizations, both in St. Lucia and maybe Caribbean wide, that you work with to push this forward or do you provide technical assistance to any of these organizations? Yes, we do. I mean, Technics is a big part of our work, but also not just with the government. We connect very closely with civil society organizations, but also the regional organizations that exist. I mean, you're the home of the OECS, so this is a really important partner for us as well, because we try to learn from what happens in the different countries and we try to scale that and replicate that to other countries. As UNICEF, I think we're really trying to kind of have this kind of knowledge sharing. And I think the OECS has a strong program and we're really working through the OECS to make sure that there's a lot of learning taking place, that there's not a repetition of things to learn in different countries. So I think in this case, I think OECS is a really strong partner, CARICOM, but we also have a lot of other national embassies that are supporting us and we are supporting them with the work that we're doing around the region. More and more, I'd like to associate with youth organizations and child-led organizations as well. Some of the countries in Eastern Caribbean have youth parliaments, active, ongoing youth parliaments, and I think that's a really good initiative as well. They are looking at policies and laws from a lawmaking from a young person's perspective and bring that then to the legal decision making the country. That kind of support. So business sector, not to forget the business sector, because I think business sector has a strong role to play when it comes to strengthening human development. They have strong interest from it as well. I just mentioned education. I mean, it's the business sector that if the education sector is not functioning, it's the business sector that suffers a lot of it because they will not be able to get the caliber of the quality of skills and the caliber of people that they need. So the business sector is very engaged in terms of young people and we collaborate also with the business sector. We're very close to the end of the program, but I wanted to very briefly, before we go off here, what sort of future challenges do you foresee in the case of advancing children's causes? I know you've spoken about your challenges under COVID-19 and so forth, but just very briefly, some future challenges. Yeah, I spoke about a lot of the challenges, I think. And a lot of them that I wanted to mention, I think I've mentioned the COVID and the follow-up on the pandemic, getting out of the pandemic, the increasing poverty that we can see around the region. I mentioned on child engagement, but one last point maybe is to say is to talk a bit more about the climate and the risks that come with climate change, which this region is no stranger to, unfortunately. So I think a lot of our work around the region is also in terms of trying to prepare countries for future hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, to be able to be better prepared. So poverty reduction is key because we need to build resilience of people, first of all, and I think poverty reduction is a key part of that resilience, but we also need to make safe schools. We need to prepare the young people to be able to support and prepare them for these natural disasters and to be helped contribute. So I think a lot of our work is also focusing on disaster risk reduction, building or making systems and also policies that are, and programs of national governments that are shock resistant, et cetera. So and educate and bring young people again into this discussion as well because they will have ideas on how to do this and their awareness and their involvement is also key when it comes to making the country safer and less vulnerable to these kind of shocks. Okay, brilliant. I want to thank you very much for coming on our program. I know you have a busy agenda and you do need to get out, but I do hope that you can come back another time, hopefully in the next few months or whenever you're back in St. Lucia and we can talk again. Anytime, I'm looking forward. Thank you so much, Jack. Thank you. You're watching Issues and Answers. Thank you for watching and please stay tuned to the National Television Network for additional programming and please follow us on Facebook and YouTube. Thank you for watching.