A number of critical initiatives under the National Peace Program (NPP) will be launched shortly.
Minister of State in the Office of the Attorney General with responsibility for Crime Prevention, Corey Lane, highlighted some of the programmes and emphasised their importance during a recent press conference, at St. Stephen’s Primary School.
In speaking about “Elevate the Peace”, Mr. Lane explained that the NPP’s change agents would be going into two communities in each of the 11 parishes and creating several direct intervention clubs.
“There are too many unattached youths in unstructured programmes in Barbados, and the devil finds work for idle hands,” he said. He pointed out that those young people were “finding a lot of nefarious and negative things to do”, and persons were complaining and voicing their concerns on the call-in programme.
“What it requires is action, and the action that we are bringing to it is direct intervention clubs, where we are putting them in clubs and giving them fun, challenging and adventurous things to do,” he stressed.
The Minister indicated that the young people had identified various activities for engagement, including fishing and hiking. He pointed out that some of them would eventually be included in the NPP’s personal development programmes such as Higher Heights, and Flip Ya Script. He further stated that their names would also be placed on the New Horizon Youth Portal.
Mr. Lane noted that a community parenting programme would be introduced across the country, which would utilise the experience and skills of PAREDOS and the social workers’ association, among others.
“So, you can almost call it a national parenting programme; it is going to be online, …on radio, and … in person. It is going to be massive and it’s going to be good,” he proffered.
Additionally, he highlighted the National Jockey Academy, and the Livewise media campaign, saying the latter would assist the public in making wise decisions. He explained that Livewise also includes a mini web series which discusses the consequences of crime.
“People don’t understand the true consequences of crime until they get into prison. They only know about losing their freedom; they don’t think about losing loved ones, the pain of a mother or grandmother when she has to mortgage…or sell the house to pay the lawyer. They don’t know about the missing chair at Christmas; it is missing because somebody has died.
“They don’t know about all the other consequences and this programme, by giving a sneak peek, is actually going to let you speak to a number of survivors. It is going to let you speak to a number of persons who have turned their life around, and I believe that it’s going to be exciting,” he shared.
Mr. Lane said the NPP was currently partnering with the St. Joseph T20 Blast Cricket Competition and stressed that such sporting activities would continue.
He gave the assurance that the programme would be taken across the island, as he disclosed that the next stop would bein the north, namely St. Lucy and St. Peter.