The head of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH), Kemar Saffrey, has proposed creating a new social network agency to coordinate efforts between various organisations supporting homeless people on the island.
Saffrey said the dedicated platform would allow more efficient service delivery through enhanced collaboration and information sharing between different groups.
It is envisaged the network will be ready within the next three months at a cost to the BAEH, he announced at a “Multi-Agency Approach to Homelessness” meeting on Monday hosted by the alliance.
The meeting focused on issues faced by the homeless community, was attended by representatives from agencies involved in mental health, rehabilitation, welfare, government, environment and substance misuse.
Briefing attendees, Saffrey outlined the benefits of the unified network: “It will help everybody be able to work on the same platform, share information and update the system about services rendered to each individual.
“That way we don’t have to worry about not knowing if a client was assisted or not.”
The proposal aims to streamline communication where individuals currently receive support from multiple agencies without a unified tracking system.
“Oftentimes people send people to us and vice versa and we don’t get enough information,” Saffrey said. “Sometimes they are helped by one social service and then they come in to get help at another and we are unaware of what was already done for them and by whom. Once we have that platform, we can easily say, yes, a client came and was assisted based on this.”
He emphasised client confidentiality would be respected, with the network not sharing confidential medical data. “We do not have all the information that would be in breach of the client like medical information and such but what we do for you as a social service agency, we will put in there. What the other agencies do, they will put in there.”
He also pointed to practical benefits for caseworkers. “Sometimes you have a client in front of you that needs to find out something about them and it’s hard to get through to the other agencies at the time.”
The BAEH head said he was optimistic about implementing the initiative within three months. “We need the technology to move forward in the agency. We need something like that to be able to work and build together… share info together and that is something that I will like to launch within the next three months and have all the organisations sign on to it.”
He also advocated the adoption of memoranda of understanding between organisations to ensure smooth collaboration. “Whether you are a simple organisation which just deals with feeding or you are a government agency… we have to move to MOUs so there is an agreement on the table that we will share information. This protects the organisation and its interest.”
(SM)
