Barbados has been nominated for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Superheroes Development Award for its Together We Build Strong Families programme (formerly Strengthening Human and Social Development programme), which aims to reduce extreme poverty and unemployment.
Minister of Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey said he hoped Barbados would walk away with the top prize in the contest that rewards creative and innovative solutions under IDB-financed projects.
“I am hopeful that Barbados can win this. I am very happy about it,” said Humphrey, who noted that a team from Bridgetown was expected to travel to Washington DC this week, ahead of their presentation on Friday.
Barbados has been selected in the 6th edition of the annual competition for its expanded Together We Build Strong Families programme, which was originally launched in 2004 as the Strengthening Human and Social Development programme but later evolved to include the Identification, stabilisation, enablement and empowerment (ISEE) Bridge project, the Adopt a Family programme and the most recent One Family programme.
The $10 million project is being backed by the IDB and is administered by the China Co-financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Barbados Together We Build Strong Families programme was among five projects nominated in this year’s Superheroes Development contest, from a total of 141 projects. The other finalists are Haiti, Peru, Chile and Ecuador.
“We took a programme that was floundering and made it a successful programme, delivering on every component of that programme,” said Humphrey.
“That programme is the basis for the 1 000 families. I mentioned it because there are a number of persons with disabilities who are a part of the 1 000 families programme and receive benefits from welfare. The last time I checked, it was over 500, but I think we need a census that tells us more accurately the amount of persons with disabilities in Barbados, beyond what the Statistical Department is doing,” he said.
He was speaking with Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of a recent workshop for people with disabilities, at the Derrick Smith School and Vocational Centre to mark part of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) ICT week of activities.
Describing the Strengthening Human and Social Development programme as a holistic one, Humphrey recalled that it was modelled based on the Chilean Puente social family protection programme.
“Between 2004 and 2007, the Puente programme was run in other islands in the Caribbean but not Barbados. Of course, the government changed and under Minister [Denis] Lowe, we worked on the ISEE Bridge – Identification, Stabilisation, Enablement and Empowerment programme – which was the same Chilean programme but with a little fine-tuning and improvement,” recalled Humphrey.
Adding that it was the basis for the additional poverty alleviation, housing, health, education and employment opportunity programmes by the government over the years, Humphrey said he was pleased that the Mia Mottley administration has been making progress.
“The IDB said that while originally we were behind on most of our indicators, in the last two years certainly we have doubled down and met all of our indicators. Indeed, we exceeded expectations for a project that was floundering,” said Humphrey, “So you can see a progression over time.”
Proposals for the IDB’s 6th Superheroes of Development contest were submitted between May and June this year.
Superheroes of Development recognises projects that use systematic learning, exchanges, and past lessons to adapt to shifting environments and generate timely and actionable knowledge for other implementing partners and institutions. (MM)
