OAS monitors social protection

The Organisation of American States reviewing progress in Caribbean social protection programme.

Washington, USA, July 21, 2010 - The Organisation of American States (OAS), through its Department of Social Development and Employment, will help to review the progress made in the four countries participating in the second phase of the Puente in the Caribbean Programme, which seeks to improve the quality of life of people living in extreme poverty. 

The OAS is coordinating monitoring visits to St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Suriname during the course of this month. 

The goal is to review the progress made so far and advance in the cooperation agenda that seeks to strengthen social protection strategies through capacity building in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The initiative, based on the successful Chile Puente Programme, has attracted the attention of several Caribbean governments. It began in 2007 with Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Lucia, and the governments of those countries are now successfully adapting the program to their unique social protection needs.

The OAS-headed mission is comprised also of Chilean tutors from the Solidarity and Investment Fund of Chile (FOSIS) who have been advising and supporting Caribbean countries in the adaptation of the lessons learned from the Puente. 

The programme is financed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Government of Chile with the technical support and coordination of the OAS Department of Social Development and Employment.