NGO community wants to be a part of Social Partnership

Members of the NGO community have expressed a desire to be a part of the Social Partnership in Barbados.

The revelation came during the National NGO Impact Consultation held at the Hilton Hotel this week under the theme, “The Impact of NGOs During COVID-19 and Beyond”.

Kemar Saffrey,  President of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness and coordinator of the National NGO Impact Consultation, following on from the acknowledgement which came from Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Santia Bradshaw in her address at the Consultation, noted that, indeed, NGOs in Barbados want to be recognised as one of the social partners.

“What we would have looked at with government, which the Minister also alluded to, is that we have asked to be in the Social Partnership. Why is that important? Because that is where we think that we can show what we have to offer, just as much as the private sector, just as much as the  unions and these things are important,” Saffrey stated.

“Yes, the Social Justice Committee was created, but we also want to be able to reach persons to let them know that we have ideas, beyond just asking for money. We have expertise beyond persons just looking at us as NGO workers. Some of us are doctors, lawyers, people with qualifications in different fields, that can be used as well. So we can still lend our expertise that we (currently offer) to the NGOs and go even beyond that,” Saffrey stressed.

This was just one of the matters raised at the NGO consultation. The session also sought  to address a number of other matters including, coordination and cooperation among NGOs and Government, funding within international organisations such as the United Nations and the IDB in partnership with Government, financial burdens faced by NGOs and specifically, concerns faced by those in the NGO community, especially during Covid-19. (RSM)