Poverty in Trinidad and Tobago

Newsday

Combat poverty to tackle crime

By ANDRE BAGOO Friday, March 28 2014

COMBATING poverty may well be one of the key methods of tackling crime, Mexicos Secretary of Foreign
Affairs Foreign Minister Jos Antonio Meade Kuribrea advised yesterday.
The Mexican official was speaking at a press conference held after bi-lateral talks between Trinidad and Tobago and
Mexico were held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tower C, International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Portof-Spain.
The same structures that bring about poverty also bring about violence, Meade Kuribrea said when asked what
lessons in crime fighting he could share with Trinidad and Tobago. He also called for better coordination between
different levels of government; as well as an awareness of the global dynamics that affect crime.
Though the overall trend in Mexico over the last 100 years has been a decrease in crime, within recent decades the
crime rate has spiked with brutal murders, including of journalists. In particular, the country has a major problem with
gangs. However, Mexicos murder rate fell from 24 per 100,000 in 2011 to 22 per 100,000 in 2012. By way of
comparison, Trinidads murder rate expressed in equivalent terms in 2011 was 28 per 100,000. In 2013, the Trinidad
and
Tobago
rate
was
put
at
31
per
100,000.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Dookeran said the scope of yesterdays bi-lateral talks also included plans by both
countries to collaborate on the issue of the turmoil in Venezuela, where anti-government unrest and protests have led
to
at
least
32
deaths.
We did discuss the issue of Venezuela and agreed to collaborate further on this issue that is on our doorsteps,
Dookeran said. We did discuss the question of dialogue to find a medium where all the actors can come together.
That requires intervention by different parties. He said several international bodies, such as the Organisation of
American
States
(OAS)
are
among
these
organisations.
Dookeran further stated, We agree that the exercise of soft diplomacy is what is required at this point to try to bring
about a resolution through dialogue in order to preserve the democratic system. In relation to the separate issue of
reports of Trinidad and Tobago nationals being caught up in anti-terrorist operations in Caracas, Dookeran said a
team was being sent with the relevant authorities but would not comment further.
Dookeran also said collaboration on the issue of security also came up in the talks.

UNDP

In-depth

A humble community in trinidad and tobago. source: UNDP Trinidad and Tobago

UNDPs poverty programme in Trinidad and Tobago informs policy and programme development through a
mixture of policy advice, advocacy and downstream initiatives. The programme contributes to work towards the
development of a national poverty reduction strategy that will directly address poverty alleviation (MDG1).
The MDG1 target aims to reduce poverty and hunger, in Trinidad and Tobago and the world. In Trinidad and
Tobago there are five areas of highest priority for pursuing poverty reduction which include: (i) promoting broadbased, sustainable growth in non-oil sectors; (ii) improving the functioning of the labour market by reforming
specific administrative interventions to reduce rigidities, distortions and gender discrimination; (iii) improving
both quality and equity in the education sector; (iv) rally supporting health reform to reduce current
inefficiencies while ensuring quality and maintaining equity; and (v) reforming the safety net so that programs
more adequately meet the needs of the poor without wasting resources.
UNDP through their own national plan works to assist developing countries in formulating poverty alleviation
strategies that utilize the 2012 Atlas of Human Development for Trinidad and Tobago. It is on this accord that
targeted approaches can be made to boost national awareness of the importance on fact based decision
making.

UNDP will continue to work to involve the government and strengthen the private sectors role on Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) to address issues of poverty and the environment and, by extension, to foster the
creation of inclusive markets for the poor as market participants, niche entrepreneurs and important
contributors to the supply chain.

Projects and Initiatives

Precursor Chemicals
Partners: UNDP and Ministry of National Security, SSA
Precursor chemicals are substances that are necessary inputs in the production of many products that are put
to legitimate use such as acetic anhydride in the manufacturing of perfume. However, many of these chemicals
have traditionally been diverted to the illegal production of narcotics such as cocaine and heroin.
Trinidad and Tobago, being a country with a petrochemical sector which produces precursor chemicals and one
that is geographically situated near to drug production centres within South America has a responsibility to
ensure that chemicals passing through or being used in its borders is not diverted to illegal use.
To address the aforementioned, this project brings on board a project management methodology that will
energize ongoing efforts aimed at strengthening collaboration with and bringing synergy to the activities all
stakeholders in relation to precursor chemical monitoring. The project will develop a Bill and establish a
Precursor Chemical Unit to operationalise the provisions of the Bill. Finally, capacity will be developed with
stakeholders in the area of Complex Systems as they relate to precursor chemical monitoring and policy
recommendations will be developed.
This projects work will be complemented by that of a separate hemispheric project called the Prevention of the
Diversion of Precursor Chemicals in Latin America and the Caribbean, in which Trinidad and Tobago is already
involved. This capacity building project is a European Commission financed initiative within the framework of
Instrument Stability and is implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
IUNV Building Inspectors
Partners: UNV, UNDP and Ministry of Local Government

Recent growth and resulting urban and rural development have placed new demands on the existing Local
Government systems. These demands dictate that the local system must now operate at a higher level of
efficiency in what can be considered to be a fast paced and result oriented environment. One of the major
challenges identified is the limited human resource capacity of the Ministry of Local Government. To support
the Ministry, the UNDP will assist in the recruitment of 20 building instructors to clear the backlog and further
the streamlining of the operations of the MOLG. The increased human capacity of the MOLG will improve the
construction management capability on the Ministry thus reduce the running cost of many local construction
projects making construction more affordable for the nation. There will also be increased public safety with
regards to structural integrity of buildings and stricter enforcement of the applicable law/s regarding building
standards.
Primary Health Care Strengthening Initiative
Partners: UNV, UNDP and Ministry of Health
There is a current dearth of healthcare professionals in Trinidad and Tobagos primary healthcare facilities as a
result of migration to foreign healthcare markets and a drift away from the public sector healthcare system to
more profitable private practice. The UNDP is currently in consultation with the Ministry of Health to provide
support through the provision of medical doctors to facilitate an improvement in the delivery of health services
to the public in particular those residing in rural communities where extended hours of access are not currently
available.
This will assist the Government in attaining several medium-term health care goals as laid out in its MediumTERM Policy Framework and is fully consistent with the Governments priority of addressing the issues of
poverty through the provision of and access to essential social services. Also the problem of unnecessary
hospital admissions due to excessive self-referrals to larger hospitals which is a result of person unable to
access health care services at their local primary health care centres after the hour of 4:00 pm. In the long run
it will free hospital resources for those critical cases that cannot be dealt with at the level of the health centres.
Development of Community Profiles for Most at Risk Communities
Partners: UNDP and Ministry of Community Development, Community Development Fund
Trinidad and Tobago has been collecting data by means of population censuses and household surveys by
which to gauge the size, characteristics and living conditions of the population and the poverty situation of
individuals and specific social groups. Among the data collection instruments used are the Population and
Housing census taken every ten years, the Household Budgetary survey and the Survey of Living Conditions
(SLC). The latter two, the HBS and SLC more specifically yield data from which living conditions and poverty
status of the population can be determined, measured and assessed.

The CDF is an implementation agency of the Ministry of Community Development that seeks to build capacity
in communities and organizations. The CDF strives to put communities on a development pathway through the
strategy of poverty alleviation. Community profiling will provide a reference for the CDFs formulation of
strategic poverty alleviation interventions. It is intend that the data acquired will further enable the CDF to
pursue its function of community development and increase the capacity of both CDF technical staff and civil
society organizations. This lends itself to the ethos of people centred development and capacity building which
is central to the CDFs mandate. The exercise seeks to build the capacity of the Community Development Fund
(CDF) to aid in the implementation of their key programmes and support services by the profiling of
communities and training of community members and CDF staff in hopes of building a sustainable model that
will strengthen the capacity of community members and CDF.

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USAID's 6th Technical Working Group Meeting on Crime Prevention was held from the 03-05 Nov and
featured a presentation from Donna Boucaud of The Juvenile Court Project
YESTERDAY

AT 08:03 AM

The Resident's Coordinators Office is pleased to invite you to view the new Carib Web Dialogue
webinar. The webinar will be aired live on Thursday 29 October 2015 from 12 pm to 1 pm. This
webinar aims at cultivating a sense of environmental ownership and responsibility in Youth by
exploring the roles that the youth of the Caribbean can play in addressing actively environmental
issues. It will take place at the United Nations House, 3A Chancery Lane, Port of Spain. Kindly see
below the link to the webinar. http://caribbeanfutureforum.com/youth-and-the-environment/?live For
more information you can visit the CFF website http://caribbeanfutureforum.com/, on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/CaribbeanFutureForum and Twitter https://twitter.com/Forum_Caribbean.
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