The report and proposals coming out of the Country Assessment of Living Conditions (CALC) should be used to shape social development in Barbados.
Elbert Ellis of the Caribbean Development Bank (left), in conversation with Steve Blackett, Barbados’ Minister of Social Care, Constituency Empowerment and Community Development.
According to Elbert Ellis of the Caribbean Development Bank, which contributed $500 000 to the CALC study, the report has revealed statistics indicating that the level of poverty in Barbados is at 19.3 per cent; and indigents – people whose level of food consumption is inadequate to meet the minimum nutritional requirement in Barbados – was recorded at 9.1 per cent.
He was speaking at the opening of the National Consultation on the Country Assessment of Living Conditions at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Tuesday.
“These statistics and the overall findings of the CALC study reinforce the fact that as development is a continuous and multi-faceted process, all sectors of the economy must continue to work assiduously and in partnership with each other and the international development community to improve the socio economic and overall living conditions of people living in Barbados
He added that all quantitative and qualitative information provided in the report should be used by all policymakers, social planners, and civil society organisations in the development and improvement of social development interventions. In addition, Ellis maintained that the proposals and recommendations in the report should be followed. Some of the recommendations coming out of the report include, one, greater investment to promote growth, especially in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, including investment in science and technology; two, greater production diversification, especially within the services sector which can enhance the foreign exchange base; and three, the implementation of the Human Resource Development Strategy to complement initiatives in the productive sectors.
Ellis said that the Caribbean Development Bank will be working assiduously to finalise the report by the end of June this year.
