PM says cost of living ease coming

By Sheria Brathwaite

As the government rolled out its much-touted social assistance programme on Friday, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced her administration will also be putting
measures in place to help Barbadians cope with the high cost of living.

Speaking at the launch of the One Family Programme at Golden Square Freedom Park, The City, she said her administration will be coming to the public with an announcement shortly to highlight how they intend to give consumers that ease.

“I will talk about that in a few week’s [time] because we understand that we have to continue to shield people as far as possible from the cost of living just as we have been providing all of these services,” she said.

In addition to pairing families with others who are in need, the One Family Programme will consist of several components, including assistance from the government to meet the education and health needs of vulnerable families. About 1 000 needy families will be assisted in the first instance.

Mottley said the One Family Programme should be treated as an extension of the Adopt A Family Programme that was introduced during the heightened period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stressing that government alone could not give the needy in Barbados a leg up, and it was important that Barbadians maintained the mentality of being their brother’s keeper, she said: “What we must now do is to supersize, to scale up our partnerships and ask Bajans and those who have the honour to live here to not just hear us talk about seeing, hearing and feeling people but to see them yourselves, to hear them yourselves and to feel them yourselves.”

“There will be some who say ‘I don’t have time but I will give money’. We thank you for the money, but I ask you for the time still.”

Social development project manager of the One Family Programme, Nicole Daniel.

The prime minister said that forging relationships with people was part of Barbadian culture as friends gave each other advice and counselling and helped one another navigate life’s challenges.

She said: “This is a clarion call for all right-thinking Barbadians, for all the clubs, service clubs, the indigenous ones like the Barbados Landship, the churches, the mosques, the temples, the Rastafari – this is the time and moment when we declare as Barbadians that while we cannot change many of the things outside of here or the atmosphere, we can change how we hold each other and lift each other up. 

“I ask us therefore today, to leave here with a singular purpose, and I will be the first one joining up today as wanting to mentor in spite of the constituency and the country I carry, and if I can carry that additional weight, then I want to believe that each of us can equally do it.”

The social development project manager of the One Family Programme, Nicole Daniel, said that more than 2 000 households were screened across the island and 1 000 of them were selected for the programme in August, based on housing, education and income.

The selected families will have access to a variety of social services to help them become resilient in various aspects of their lives. 

Daniel added that private individuals and the private sector could get on board the initiative and give back in whatever way they could.

She projected that this initiative would be successful based on the success of the bridge programme in which 250 families were assisted.

Two participants of that programme – aspiring chef Adrianne Calendar and landscaper Jason Allman – gave emotional personal testimonials about how their lives were transformed, and how they were equipped with the tools to better take care of their families and further their education.

Minister of People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey said he hoped that the community spirit and the old-time Barbadian way of life would be revived through the programme. 

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb