THE DELIVERY of care packages to several St Catherine communities on Saturday was the culmination of a well coordinated and supported private-public sector partnership aimed at providing relief to some vulnerable persons living below the poverty line.
Starting at the Central Village Police Station, the convoy made its way along Windsor Heights, Zambia, among other communities, stopping to deliver bags containing crackers, flour, cornmeal, rice, sugar, cooking oil, mackerel, corned beef, sausage, fruit drinks, toilet paper and soap. The assistance is provided through the PSOJ COVID-19 Jamaica Response Fund’s relief programme, and a lot of planning and groundwork had gone into the selection process, according to Saffrey Brown, chair of the Council of Voluntary Social Services, which is working with United Way of Jamaica and American Friends of Jamaica to execute the programme.
The planning had started some time ago when they partnered with Mona Geoinformatics, based at The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, which did risk profiling of communities right across Jamaica using 22 data sets, including health status, unemployment, crime and poverty, as well as the population density and community infrastructure. This information was supplemented by checks done by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and Ministry of Local Government, with the Social Development Commission and Community Development Committee doing a lot of the legwork, physically checking to verify the status of the beneficiaries, with strong support from the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Read more
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