Gillings

The Organisation of American States (OAS), in collaboration with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), will host a three-day regional workshop, starting today. The workshop aims to introduce the concept and framework of the highly-acclaimed Chilean poverty eradication model, 'The Puente (Bridge) Programme', to several Caribbean countries.

The workshop, which will be held at the Hilton Kingston hotel in New Kingston, will be attended by participants from Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, and Jamaica - the countries which will pilot the programme in the Caribbean. In addition, representatives from the social development funds in Latin America, Dominica and Haiti will also attend.

Building programme

Scarlette Gillings, JSIF's managing director and also vice-president of the Social Development Commission of the OAS, said the workshop would be the precursor to a two-year capacity-building programme funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. This is part of a broader support package by the OAS for the institutional strengthening of the social investment funds and the ministries of social development in the English-speaking Caribbean. This is in keeping with efforts to decrease the levels of poverty in the region. She noted further that Chile's Puente Programme has been internationally recognised for its success in providing critical psychosocial and economic support to families in extreme poverty. It has, therefore, become a model for developing countries.

Among those scheduled to speak at the opening ceremony are Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance and Planning; Alfonso Silva, Ambassador of Chile; Adriana Lagos Toro, head of the Department for International Cooperation, FOSIS - the Chilean counterpart of JSIF; Professor E. Nigel Harris, vice chancellor, University of the West Indies; Francisco Pilotti, director of the Department of Social Development and Employment, OAS; and Denis Kingsley, Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica. The ceremony will begin at 10:00 o'clock.