Ministry hosts Xmas flea market

Staff of the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services and clients of the ministry’s Sowing Empowerment through Entrepreneurial Development (SEED) programme, displayed their talents and entrepreneurial capabilities at the ministry’s first ever Christmas flea market last Thursday at the Brian Lara Promenade, Port of Spain.

Minister of Social Development and Family Services Cherrie-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn told Newsday one of her ministry’s goals is to encourage entrepreneurship.Crichlow-Cockburn said the event was an excellent initiative.

“The staff are walking the talk in so doing, demonstrating to our clients and citizens that they have the potential to be successfully involved in business, supplement their income and improve their lives.

“The initiative also provides an opportunity for not just staff but our clients, to market their products and earn additional income,” Cockburn said. Cockburn said the SEED programme transforms the lives of beneficiaries through the provision of equipment, specialised training, to initiate or expand a micro enterprise.

She said the grant is valued up to 15,000. Speaking to Newsday at the flea market, the ministry’s corporate communication manager, Natalie Walters, said the market came on the background of the ministry’s Social Mitigation Plan which was launched earlier this year.

She said the plan’s theme is entitled, “Building resilience to secure our nation. This is what the flea market is all about. The ministry’s remit is really to develop and to ensure that there is a safety net for the vulnerable in TT. But, the safety net has two aspects to it, one – empowerment and transformation. This is what today is all about, building resilience so that the burden would be removed from the state eventually.” Walters said the idea about having the flea market is to let people know that they don’t have to depend on the state. She said the vulnerable can move off the grant and learn how to sustain both themselves and their families.

“They can reinvent and make things possible for themselves to remain sustainable through training and development and of course entrepreneurial opportunities. Using this competitive welfare to work approach, it is envisaged that these tools will be used to give the vulnerable a source of income to sustain themselves and their families. Walters said training is provided in the following areas of cash management, record keeping, customer service excellence, marketing, costing and pricing. The Brian Lara Promenade was transformed into a shopping area, displaying a wide variety of handmade household crafts, decorative candles, chocolate, coffee and pineapple wine, printed jackets, T-shirts, jewellery, Christmas wheat’s, household plaques, bedspread and sheet sets among other things.