United Nations Jamaica 76th Anniversary

Enterprise Initiative implemented through a partnership with the Jamaica 4-H Foundation. Following a study conducted by Dr K’adamawe K’nIfe, of the Office of Social Enterprise, University of the West Indies, the HSTF Programme partnered with the Jamaica 4-H Foundation to provide grants supported by training and mentoring to 7 Community Development Councils to establish viable social enterprises in keeping with their social and economic profiles. Ventures for which grants were provided include:- equipment rental; animal husbandry; bee keeping, agroforestry, upholstering and screen printing. Objective III Objective III focuses on improved environmental health and water security. Under this objective, the HSTF Programme:- Formulated and handed over to Government, a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to support the National Water Sector Policy; conducted and disseminated a Gender Awareness Beneficiary Assessment (GABA) on gender dimensions in accessing piped water; provided, to GOJ, technical support to the revision of the Draft Industry Specific legislation for the Water Sector Policy; developed “Hello Rain, a new digital platform (see www. hellorain.org ) for rainwater harvesting which is being used as a training tool; rehabilitated 2 water harvesting systems to provide potable water to communities in Northern Clarendon, which lack access to water from the municipal source; and established water harvesting systems for sanitation at 4 schools in Northern Clarendon. Work continues at enhancing sanitation in schools and in the rehabilitation of selected health centres with a focus on water harvesting for sustainable and efficient water use. The programme has also contributed to enhanced knowledge and skills at the community level, in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, to support the efforts of communities to prepare for climate-related events and disasters. Communities are better equipped to integrate climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in. to local economic development plans, and build resilience and reduce vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change and natural hazards through participatory activities in key aspects of disaster risk reduction including:- Production and validation of community hazard and vulnerability maps; community planning and strategic meeting including plan development; of goods and services for the improvement of communities’ capacities to respond to natural disasters; implementation of community emergency drills; preparation of community Climate Change and disaster Risk reduction Adaptation and management plans; and training in specialized areas for the communities. These activities are being implemented with active community participation, though a partnership with the CPDCBS, CMC and the KSAMC. even under conditions of inclement weather brought on by storms and restrictions in movement and gatherings arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. Objective IV For Objective IV , the focus has been on strengthening institutional capacity to mainstream the Human Security Approach (HSA) to development. The UN Joint Programme partnered with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to mainstream the Human Security Approach in the Country Implementation Plan (CIP) and Country Programme Strategies of UN agencies; thirty-two (32) representatives from Government along with UN Agencies and community leaders from West Kingston and Northern Clarendon participated in a 2-day training course on The Human Security Approach during 2018. Some 25 participants of similar profile, benefited from a follow up virtual training session on 25 March 2021. Under this objective the programme peveloped and executed a communication strategy which is under implementation until programme completion. Key outputs of the HSTF Programme and related activities in Jamaica and overseas are constantly highlighted through the Programme’s social media pages, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. As the first Human Security Joint Programme in Jamaica, the HSTF Programme with its pooled resources of agencies with different expertise complemented by the co-funding from theGovernment of Jamaica has created the opportunity for community members to work in close association with key government institutions. This collaboration has extended the benefits to stakeholders in the participating communities and provided the opportunity for government, civil society and the UN to work together on a common approach to development. Although the programme faced initial start-up and implementation difficulties compounded by the recent global pandemic, COVID-19 (since March 2020), the programme team has worked to mitigate the challenges. The linkages established through partnerships and the pooling of resources has extended the results and benefits through a catalytic multiplier effect and will contribute to the sustainability of the results and outcomes beyond the life of the programme. Some key partnerships established under the HSTF Programme are with:- The Social Development Commission; the Rural Agricultural Development Authority; the Clarendon Parish Development Committee Benevolent Society; the Clarendon Municipal Corporation; the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation; the Jamaica 4-H Foundation; the Fletchers Land Benevolent Society. Of special significance is the fact that the HSTF Programme has demonstrated that 5 UN agencies with different roles, and structures including administrative and financial systems, can effectively work together to “deliver as one” for the benefit of their common stakeholders. CONT’D FROM PAGE 27 THE 76TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL FEATURE OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN JAMAICA 28