 Good day and welcome to issues and answers a production of the government information service I am your host Jack Hingson Compton and today we're talking SSDF and right now We're here with the executive director of the st. Lucia social development fund or SSDF dr. Alison mathre Dr. Mather, how are you doing? Good morning? Good morning? Very well. Thank you. How about you? I'm not too bad Thank you for coming on our program. We have a lot to discuss about SSDF its various programs its purpose First of all, I want you to start off with what exactly is SSDF's mandate and tell us a little bit about the history of SSDF Very simply the mandate is poverty alleviation The SSDF was born out of a merger between the post reduction fund Which was started in 1997 and basically These two agencies merged to form the SSDF Of course the BNTF program the targets communities poor communities And yes the poverty reduction fund targeted individuals or an indigent Indigent individuals. How does your work mean that you work very closely with the the Ministry of Equity? Well, the SSDF actually falls It's a statutory organization, but falls under the minister of equity if you will so by extension It is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Equity Now you've mentioned That it's one of its main purposes is poverty alleviation From your view, what are some of the societal ills that? Result or come about as a result of poverty or this then numerous numerous key issues of housing Education Also, a lot of a lot of the social ills Can be tied back to The family structure all of these things are affected impacted seriously by by By poverty as a matter of fact some of the programs like the all-boys matter program that you mentioned Was born out of the the need to try to assist Some children in schools, so I mean if you really want to look at it a lot of the The clear lens and criminality and all of these things that most of these things are born out of Inadequate access or lack of access to resources that The children are the key in terms of getting children developed for for the world of life and work so the business of Dealing of poverty is very very serious Now you mentioned the our boys matter program obviously on a as we discussed off-camera on another program I want to talk in depth about it But just give us a brief overview of what the our boys matter program is with targets Well, I let me let me what I what I will do is and said I'll tell you because you know When I talk about OBM I have to talk about his both how it was born our boys matter program was created out of a New SSDF drive resource mobilization drive What happened was that having recognized that? funding over the years from central government as well as from the International donors was decreasing Tremendously we recognized the need to to tap into the private sector because the reality is that there are many Private organizations that take their corporate responsibility very seriously, and I think Government governmental agencies haven't really tapped into it and Perhaps there was no need because I'm in the early days of SSDF I mean we used to get a lot of substantial funding so Necessities the murder of invention so once that started to dry up We needed to still to to start to see where else we could get funding to execute our mandate because The dwindling funds didn't decrease the number of persons need in assistance as you'd appreciate so One of the early persons we created a resource mobilization office brought in a new resource mobilization officer at the time was miss Ania Edwin and One of the one of the early post organizations we target we went to was Massey stores and We were given the indicator that it would be interested in partnering the DSSDF on an initiative But two things that they required was one it had to target vulnerable young males And the other thing is it had to have a mentorship component So we went back to the drawing board. We said you know myself and I mean within a day We had developed this our boys market program that was designed and in the early days We called it boys to men and After the name that was used in Trinidad by the Massey stores head office and but we subsequently changed it all boys matter and Basically the program seeks to We recognize that there were a number of young males in Secondary schools language in secondary schools who were not they were not equipped with the Theoretical knowledge and skills didn't have the interest I should see in that sort of thing And they were more interested in technical vocational, you know types of subjects Equally you'd find the same children are interested in sports some of them may be interested in the arts and what have you and but our education system doesn't really make enough allowance for that and It's it's a shame that we didn't continue from schools like the castries comprehensive and Leon Hesse and Have so that we could have more Technical vocational type school training for for young people. So we found there were a number of children sitting in schools But first of all Had no interest in the academics. They were feeling Every subject the attendance was poor because one of the reasons for the poor attendance was that The parents couldn't afford to pay transportation fees for them. They couldn't pay for their meals and what have you so It's easier for them to keep them home What happens when especially especially when you have young boys in poor inner cities What happens when they're not at school? What are they into and? Chances are it's not anything good So effectively what is happening is that the system is creating a breeding ground For what we're dealing with today with all the Crime and murders and what have you had these boys been engaged given a chance first chance I call it we call these second chances, you know care and SDC and we call them second chances I call them first chance because they never got a first chance all children from very early we need to identify What the areas of interest is and what is the aptitude and so we can channel them in the right direction Otherwise it is an unfair play in field because those who are interested in academics Obviously that's the environment that we send everybody into but those that have other interests and The other thing we do is we make the mistake of thinking because a person may not be interested in academics or because they may not do Well in the academics that they are slow So we stigmatize people as this but in more developed countries. There's a very high premium pay on To on technical skills very high and so we marginalize technical skills Marginalize schools like here and you know and the thing is for Children to go into, you know, everybody wants their children to be lawyers and doctors and what have you, you know, but Perhaps don't know people that recognize and understand that Technical skills are real skills because if you take a child as purely academic You put them in a in a technical environment. They'll be slow You understand, but we look at slow in terms of the other way and So now what so what OBM sought to do is to try to address some of these issues and we believe that if we if we Would if we were able to bring to bear or make available to poor children Even the average the average resources that that you know a normal child in secondary school have access to Then we believe that it would have made a difference and we still believe that today The reality is When children are not We cannot say that we provide in Equitable access for students when some of them can go into areas that they can excel in and others can't so With that with our very first cohort for OBM was a hundred boys we targeted a hundred boys from seven secondary schools in the north and It was essentially a pilot program and for me personally. I I never saw The OBM program. I always knew it was going to be successful because it logically just was and But I never envisaged OBM being something that sustainably DSSDF could run for a long period of time for me The goal the vision has always been for the Ministry of Education to adopt the concept and First to try to as a country to try to make available to All also all children at school the basic needs Meals transportation Uniforms books and what have you once we make this equal now There are other issues that go on in poor households and they are Summertime the simulations go on in in more affluent households The difference is that the more affluent households are better able to deal with it because they have the resources to try to You know have the children that doesn't obtain in the poor households So we thought that if we if we brought these resources to bear and what we found was immediately Within the first year of the program within the first few months the attendance rate had shot up tremendously because now One of the reasons that we're staying almost because they didn't have access to meals and what have you that had changed once children are interested and They have the resources to go to school then of course You the other thing that comes up would be their grades and we saw that So the good thing about it is when in the initial initial co-op with 100 about 40 of them went to care and I must say I'm very thankful that the Ministry of Education from the very beginning Through its support hundred percent behind this program as a matter of fact one of the first meetings we had of the Ministry of Education the Ministry was represented by Mr. C. Powell and He's very passionate about technical vocational that sort of stuff and he he told us very early on that He would be the voice of that program and the ministry did buy into it and up to now We still have the total support We were a little bit afraid that the ministry will be reluctant to transfer children from the traditional secondary schools Okay, but that didn't happen. They were very supportive and so a number of children got the opportunity to To go to care, but I want to make the point that the OBM is not about transfer insurance to care OBM is about trying to help children if Some of them have Interests in the arts and music then we want to help them in these areas You know we want to help children in the areas of their interest and for perhaps for the ministry I'm hoping that they'll be a Quantitative study done in Perical data to show demonstrate that it that that that process is successful So that it basically is but I want to say this too. I'm concerned in OBM There are things that also that make this a very good program. One is there's a steering committee comprising I Members from the organizations that sponsor and in this case Masi stores on new select And I want to thank Masi stores on new select for being the first major sponsors of OBM and today They still remain the biggest sponsors We thought we thought Masi stores there'd be no OBM Tell you that and you select jumped on board and together they did it and they still continue to assist but The other thing is We brought on board very early from from the inception once Masi stores has agreed With with our concept of the program. We agreed that we would bring on Well, I the first person I contacted is Miss Anthony watching Anthony, of course She's well-known educator former chief education officer and she's a tireless worker So she we brought on board and she helped with the further development of the program The SSDF has had we've had about maybe three we on to the third coordinator of OBM and The OBM team is very powerful. We have a number of our social officers that engage with the families directly because we recognize if you if I help a child a family that has two or three children and One I help them to send one child to school. What I'm so the others So how does a mother feel knowing that? What arms when they did the same school example and one has access to resources and the other one doesn't so So we try to to factor in the entire family to see how we can provide assistance to them And the other thing we do also another thing we do is we look at how was it in cases where the house Institution is really dire. We try to assist them there But one of the first things we do too. We try to take a look at what's going on in terms of the income in the house Is it if if the parents if the if the mother had whoever the breadwinner is if that person needs Training and capacity building we do that in some cases. We've gotten them involved in our micro enterprise programs, you know in some cases we bought We'd eat her or somebody wanted to make juice and things like that. So we try to assist them So so they can in turn You know you mentioned something they actually want you to speak on Like your what exactly is your micro enterprise program program? So that has a little history In earlier years at SSDF we we tackle the idea of a micro enterprise program everything has its time and I suppose You know at the time the then board and you know Wasn't perhaps wasn't been think that it was something that the ASSDF should should be doing however, I tackle it again and this time because Here's the deal. This is this is this is how our micro enterprise program works We partner with Bell fund on this so We provide the funding bell fund provides a training we pay for business officer that officer works through the Our BNTF our SSDF clients sorry right through until the loans are paid They get the maximum That we would lend them through bell fund would be ten thousand dollars at the time It was no interest we were viewing the no interest component of it now, but no interest and also We sought to differentiate a little bit from from bell funding that we do our primary focus is not in collecting Collecting rental payments that is important to us But what is more important to us is the survival of these businesses and so we recognize that some businesses grow A little slower than others and you know once we can establish a person is serious and they try and we work with them Especially through the business officer who visits them monthly You know to assist them with you know with the accounting processes and marketing and different ideas We've been able to Help a number of fact going into cove it. I think we had about 50-something businesses going and Covid affected a number of them just like it did the wider industry, but for those that were very serious We've continued Provided for the funding and I mean in the initial stages It was very nice to see some some of the business people They really wanted to pay off these loans like a right away and some of them did and in fact We had to be trying to tell them they need to you know Wanted them to we didn't want them to just put so much focus on paying off these loans and you know So you run into cash flow problems and stuff like that But they interest a lot of them dangerous and getting these loans paid and they were very committed to that The rationale for that because somebody may ask well, you know It's really an unsecured loan You know hate is you taking a chance of getting somebody ten thousand dollars to do a business They may not do anything and you have no recourse You can't go and take this and take that and the other but For me, I looked at it like this If we do not provide that assistance to them That's people that's clients that will continue to come to the SSDF every year for Assistants and if they have two of rich children that may very well add up very quickly to that ten thousand dollars so you say, okay, you take a chance on them and especially Because one of the one of the difficulties for clients going to bell fund is that they have to get three guarantors And that's always going to be a challenge for poor people, you know Middle-income people may may have challenges getting somebody to you know to to seek your own for them So we knew it was always going to be a challenge and who want to take a chance and guarantee a loan for somebody Especially they're unemployed, you know, so we took that chance on them and I can tell you It is it is successful. I mean we were doing like about 60% at least Our businesses were doing okay and from I'll say this if for me if you get 50% 60% of the businesses Become successful. I think that is good. I think that is good because it is providing One of the things with these small businesses is when they successfully going to hire the people and they grow on what have you so another strength of that program is it helps them to get a custom to Documenting and you know to making the deposits and what have you and so if they decide they want a loan for a high amount They can go to bell fund directly or they could go to the commercial banks because now they have a record of payments and history of payments So it's a very very useful program. I'm very good. We continue to do it We continue to run that program and I mean I hope it is a program that I think unless unless perhaps bell fund Adjusts their requirement for the six guarantee for the three guarantee or something then they'll always be need for somebody to deal with To provide assistance at a very bottom in terms of indigents and poverty Which would be the clients that we see now you have a lot of other very important programs obviously not just aimed at young people and then You Facilitating to be such facility facilitating people to be self-employed. Sorry. You have programs for parents called the national parenting program You also have a senior home givers program. I want you to talk a little bit about those programs Yes In terms the national parent the whole thrust for parenting again that was that's driven really a lot by By miss Antony and again that is one of the key pillars of Support under the old boys matter program because we recognize again one of the deficiencies one of the challenges faced by a lot of poor families is that a Lot of the parents that they lack the parenting skills necessary for them to you know I'll give you an example even Even the understanding of the importance of getting involved one of our challenges is getting the parents to be involved in the children now Again with persons of affluence a lot of times you see them You know taking the children are taking the children are taking them to activities and you know and helping them at home It's cool work and all kinds of things like that you find in a Single mother for example if how many children probably trying to to do how you know work She doesn't have a lot of time to you know to focus on on on the children and you know parenting but Parenting is a critical role. And so We we try to equip them we provide training workshops and it is very warmly embraced by them I must say that the persons that participate they enjoy the training some of it is done by miss Antony again and But there's a lot of enthusiasm for for it in the workshops And we think that goes a long way in helping Helping some of these big persons that we assist in terms of the challenges that the chair of reason children Which is central to a lot of the issues that we have going on that make the issues we are going on in our society Not just in boys, but it goes also and the senior Homecare give us program. That's about that one The home care givers program has a long history and it has gone from one administration to the next is called something else That program really started initially at the SSDF under the Stevenson King administration We had home care givers under the whole program or back in the days. Hope you still get a lot of money, you know So one of the things that we did under the then ed mr. Dr. Henry was the idea at the time and So we had we had not as large as it is now But we had a number of persons and the idea was for them to go out and in some cases Just to to talk and you know, because there are a lot of there are a lot of older people that live alone and they don't see anybody for you know for a long period of time and Sometimes all they want is for somebody sit and talk to them and you know, this thing is just so straight very It's a strange from a phenomena in that even when I remember one time in the early stages when we ran out of funding the caregivers continued to go and Visit their clients, you know, so they had established that relationship that human relationship now the program is very big probably have about Have about over 600 clients and over 400 workers in the field It's a very big program as you can understand and and they provide, you know invaluable service to another person's in need The other thing the program did and it does to is provides Sometimes things like pumpers cleaning supplies, you know, because sometimes some people again The most of all persons we target are poor persons. So sometimes the conditions under which they live, you know They don't have clean and supply. Sometimes they don't have food. They don't have pumpers and things like that. So The program seeks to provide that sort of assistance to them and It is like I say, it is a big a very big program it was run conducted under the nice program after After the initial days of it and then of course now It is now what you call the home care program But you know, the whole concept has been the same and it is something that look less We said I mean at the end of the day government will always have a responsibility to take care of Older persons that cannot take care themselves Society when I say government I'm talking By extension people of St. Lucia Or any country for that matter. There are some people that cannot take care themselves And we have no choice but to take care of them. It's just the human thing to do And I think that is a responsibility. I'm happy to see that that the governments of St. Lucia have, you know Recognized and put in the resources and you can well imagine it as a very costly program Very very costly and so You know, they even the government has invested and it continues to invest in it, I should say Now you I Obviously you would need a lot of training. I suppose to deal with With seniors in the home. I understand that you had training for the home caregivers I think that ended in in in the end of June this year. Could you talk about that? Yes. Yes. Yes, and it's critical because Let's put it this way There are a number of factors there. So you have issues that You're going into a person's home the private space and you'd appreciate a lot of persons that That would probably apply for these jobs do not have the necessary training So training is ongoing by the way so It is periodic we we keep on you know training because we know Since we want persons to be constantly reminded and sure that they continue to do what they're supposed to do in terms of taking care of the clients and So we continue to do that also the We take very seriously the business of training of the supervisors Because the supervisors of these workers also need to be trained in order to effectively manage them in the field. You'd appreciate that Unlike a business normal business where you have a building and you're all you know on the floor space and you have persons being supervised by one Out there is very different. The head is you have maybe you have one supervisor In a country of we have about Maybe probably about 25 supervisors all together for 17 constituencies and If you just look at it look at the numbers 17 supervisors Supervising over 400 people it tells you that is the You know the spanner control is huge. You know, so they need to be properly equipped skilled so that they can They can supervise these persons and then you're talking about again managing people different personalities different attitudes and what have you So that is very challenging So we also undertake the supervisory training That was also done recently And with regard to the other training specialized training we have nurses That get involved in natural training So that they teach the clients, you know our our workers how to how to deal with you know, how to take care of the elderly Okay, we're coming very close to the end of the program So I just want you to is there anything that we may have missed anything else you want to address before we go off air? resource mobilization Is key and I will say this it gave both to obm but it also gave both to a critical link with the diaspora that has served us very well Coming out of a resource mobilization effort when we started to target the private sector and realize that things will You know, we're not going as we as we would have liked We decided, you know, I got some contacts with I knew having lived in the u.s. For some time that we have solution associations overseas What I didn't know at the time was that there was an umbrella body called the usloa union of solutions living overseas and They operate in canada the u.s. And the uk As a matter of fact every two years every every two years. They have the biannual convention and and what they do is they seek to to they come together because They the chapters in the various countries set up to try to assist um, they Solutions for example, you said the way in the in the in the various countries and also the solution by extension um So once we got that link and at the time, um, it was roscadas mr roscadas was the president of usloa Also facilitated by the time by minister siri flood bowler We were invited this as they were invited to Address to make a presentation to the usloa In the uk and is it 2019? 28 Anyway, so we went and made that presentation and let me tell you they were really They were fascinated they they indicated that they couldn't believe that there was an organization like the ssdf in st lusia and they had never heard anything about it they were particularly pleased because To them Here was an opportunity now for them to make meaningful contributions to st lusia because Outside of you know, somebody sent an uslo help. They don't know what they know what it was going to Where it was legit, but to have an organization that was you know, a governmental organization that was not Essentially part of a ministry You know, so they were very happy coming out of that. Um They were very enthusiastic. I made the presentation myself and they were very very pleased with it And um, I mean even come on coming out. They were ready to to to join us and act coming out of that. Um It was a decision to set up an mo you Between the uslo a and and ssdf for us to establish a Thrift shop, although we wouldn't call it a thrift shop To establish a thrift of thrift up in st lusia with the supplies being coming from from the The three Three countries It sounds like there's a lot left to talk about Yes, um, but we'll have to discuss it on another program because we've come to the end of this one I want to thank you very much for coming on our program. I hope you will be back another time to speak more about the ssdf Almost definitely. Thank you. You're watching issues and answers. I'm your host jacking sincompton. Thank you for watching We'll be back next time