One Year In Government - Prime Minister Andrew Holness

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• • gleanerjamaica • jamaicagleaner • FEATURE THE GLEANER, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 F6
IT HAS been a struggle most
of her life. Now, 34-year-old
Nicole Nation is thankful that
at her lowest point in life, she was
given a lifeline to a bright future.
“PATH (Programme of
Advancement Through Health
and Education) came at a time
when my family needed the
money. My mother was unable to
work and so my father was the
sole breadwinner for our family.
The programme provided that
little extra money that my father
needed to sustain his family
financially. It was the added
security that PATH provided that
enabled me and my siblings to
focus on our schoolwork without
fear of where we were going to
get our next meal from.” said
Nation.
Today, Nation is now a medical
doctor, graduated from the
University of the West Indies
(UWI), Mona, in November 2016
with a bachelor’s degree in
medicine and surgery (Honours).
Her story is one of success.
As a demonstration of its
commitment to protect the most
vulnerable in the society, the
Government in 2016 allocated $5
billion for beneficiaries under its
flagship social intervention
programme, PATH. Up to
December 2016, some $4 billion
was disbursed to 311,578
beneficiaries across the island.
The largest social-protection
support system in the English-
speaking Caribbean, PATH has
more than 364,252 registered
beneficiaries as at December 2016.
Beneficiaries under the
programme include: children
from birth to the age of leaving
secondary school; pregnant and
lactating women; the elderly, 60
years and over; persons with
disabilities and the adult poor
(indigent).
Between April and November
2016, approximately $103.1
million in grants was disbursed to
3,698 beneficiaries to pursue
further studies after completing
secondary education. Meanwhile,
319 students received tertiary
bursaries valued at $100,000 each
towards their tuition after
completing at least their first year
of tertiary education.
IMPROVING HER LIFE
It is through the education grant
that Nation has been able to
improve her life. She expressed her
appreciation for the PATH Tertiary
Education Grant, which assisted her
in paying her tuition. “This came at
a pivotal time in my medical
education journey as I was able to
combine the funds received through
the grant with other funding I had
received to successfully cover the
costs associated with my
education,” she said.
Also a PATH Youth
Ambassador, she said she was not
only humbled but was also
grateful for the opportunity to be
able to give back.
“I think that for Jamaica as a
country to be able to move
forward, the cycle of poverty has
to be broken. Education is a
powerful tool which can be used
to do this. To ensure that there is
a greater alignment of the benefits
under PATH with the social needs
of people, additional case
management assistants and social
workers have been employed,”
asserted Nation.
Funding keeps hard-working on right PATH
* In 2016, the Government
allocated $5 billion for
beneficiaries of PATH.
* Up to December 2016,
some $4 billion was disbursed
to 311,578 beneficiaries
across the island.
* PATH had more than 364,252
registered beneficiaries as at
December 2016
* Between April and November
2016, approximately
$103.1 million in grants
was disbursed to 3,698
beneficiaries to pursue further
studies after completing
secondary education
... Next generation put on different PATH
... $5b towards government
programme in 2016
ANOTHER PATH Youth Ambassador,
Jamelia Jalaalwalikram, who is currently
pursuing a master’s degree in economics
after obtaining a first class bachelor’s
degree in business administration, said,
“PATH is arming us with the tool we need
to lift ourselves out of vulnerability, and
that tool is education.”
The PATH Youth Ambassador
programme was launched in November
and the first batch of 16 persons were
selected to be Youth Ambassadors. The
aim of the programme is to break the
intergenerational cycle of poverty by
reducing stigma and discrimination and to
encourage students to stay in school and
pursue academic excellence.
Under PATH’s Social Protection Project
II, 38 student beneficiaries were recognised
for their outstanding academic
achievements in Grade Six Achievement
Test (GSAT) and the Caribbean Secondary
Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations
at the programme’s Top Achievers Awards
Ceremony held in November.
Minister of Labour and Social Security
Shahine Robinson said the recognition of
the students is a testimony that PATH is
achieving its objective and is making a
difference in the lives of many.
PARENTING WORKSHOPS
In addition, there are several
components to the programme which help
persons to be independent rather than
being a long-term dependent. Under the
PATH Parenting Programme, workshops
were conducted in several parishes aimed
at increasing parenting skills to ensure that
children are healthy and prepared
psychologically and socially to engage the
education system at grade one. Through
the Social and Economic Inclusion of
Persons with Disabilities Project, 351
persons with disabilities completed skills
training, 154 of whom participated in
work experience and 32 gained part-time
or permanent employment.
In addition, the Early Stimulation
Programme provides assessment and an
early intervention programme for children
with disabilities from birth to six years
old. Seventy-eight persons improved their
readiness for school after receiving
physiotherapy. One hundred and thirty-
nine parents of children with disabilities
were trained to effectively respond to the
needs of their children.
Through funding from the Inter-
American Development Bank, two state-
of-the-art facilities at Hanover Street and
Ostend Avenue in Kingston are being
equipped to provide services for children
with disabilities from PATH and other
low-income households.
PATH is a conditional cash transfer
programme funded by the Government of
Jamaica and other external partners, aimed at
delivering benefits through cash grants to the
most needy and vulnerable in the society.
FILE
Ann-Marie Nicholas-DeSouza (left), social worker at the Ministry of Labour and
Social Security, explains the benefits of the Programme of Advancement Through
Health and Education (PATH) to 74-year-old Amy Hunter of Content Gate, Harkers
Hall, while others wait for details on the scheme.