UNDP, MIC study: Trinidad and Tobago's NGO landscape 'more developed' than others

A UNDP study on human trafficking in the Eastern Caribbean has concluded that the NGO landscape in Trinidad and Tobago is "far more developed" than those of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The study is titled A Media Analysis of the Coverage of Youth Involvement in Crime and Violence and Trafficking in Persons (June 2021- June 2023) in the Eastern Caribbean.

It was jointly done with the Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC). It is also part of the CariSecure 2.0 initiative by USAID (the US Agency for International Development).

The document says the research was done by 11 people and "data gatherers" were deployed in each country. Two analysts then reviewed a total of 815 news stories on human trafficking.

It adds that MIC created a library of information and reference material on youth in crime and violence as well as human trafficking, based on independent research in the region.

"This research shows a gap with non-governmental and civil society organisations (NGOs; CSOs) where data is not captured and the evaluation of initiatives is not recorded.

"Data and information from these entities who work in the communities to alleviate the risk and circumstances related to youth involved in crime and victims of human trafficking could be insightful and instructive."

But, it continued, "In the case of TT, the NGO/CSO landscape is far more developed than the other countries in this report as there are many more of these organisations and several of them are properly structured with clearly defined mission statements, governance procedures and human resource allocation."

Later on in the document, it also says TT's NGO landscape is "the most active."