Health Division hosts gender-based violence workshop

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Gender Unit of the Division of Health, Wellness and Social Protection, in collaboration with the Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CADV), hosted a case-management workshop at the division in Scarborough on Wednesday.

The one-day education and advocacy workshop dealt specifically with gender-based violence as well as domestic and family violence. The workshop targeted first responders who might be called to such situations and internal stakeholders in the division and the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA).

Secretary of the division Dr Faith BYisrael said the workshop was a good one, since it was an opportunity to marry the theories of good practice in social work with what really happenend on the ground. She said it was important for each stakeholder to understand how the other functioned in order to work collaboratively.

Highlighting the importance of the workshop, she said, “This is critical. If we do it correctly, it can be the difference between someone living and surviving, and somebody not making it out as positively as we would like them to.”

She encouraged everyone to soak up as much as they could from the day’s offerings.

Gender officer at the THA division Nigel Phillip said the workshop aimed to provide and develop stakeholders internally and externally with the right tools to assist the people of Tobago.

Director of CADV Marcus Kissoon said Tobago had a unique experience and required its own interventions in combatting gender-based violence.

“Small island-ness is a huge thing that we need to understand. We can’t just take global information and apply it to us.”

The CADV is an NGO committed to ensuring that children, women and men in TT live in an environment free from physical, emotional, sexual and psychological violence.

Assistant director of gender in the Gender Division in the Office of the Prime Minister Amilcar Sanatan congratulated the organisers, describing the workshop as “quite timely.” He said the nation continued to endure a long period of gender-based violence rooted in gender equalities.

“More people in our society need to understand what gender is, why gender equality is important and how we can work intelligently and collectively to transform this developing challenge.”

Multisectoral service delivery and quality providers, he said, must adhere to ethical, safe and survivor-centred practices.

“For this reason, enhancing the capacity of government and civil-society organisations on standard operating procedures are fundamental to the national effort on combatting gender-based violence.”

He said the division had reached an advanced stage in developing the gender-based violence registry, and the enhanced case-management system would provide key data points to improve social interventions as well as transforming inefficiencies.