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The Barbados Labour Party is resolutely committed to eradicating
poverty and to providing opportunities for marginalized persons
in our country.
We will
ensure that all Barbadians are equipped to take on the challenge
of self-development rather than depend on the social services.
Our Poverty
Eradication Plan will involve participation of all sectors
of civil society: the public and private sector, Non- Governmental
Organizations and Community Based Organisations.
The eradication
of poverty remains our number one priority on the Barbados
Labour Party’s agenda.
The main
aspects of our programme will be based on building community
enterprise and urban renewal. The Community Enterprise and
Empowerment Programme, as demonstrated by the “Deacon’s
Model” will provide opportunities for Barbadians to
establish businesses for their our selfdevelopment.
COMMUNITY
ENTERPRISE
The BLP
will:
- Make
50% of the resources allocated to our Urban Development
Programme available for enterprise development within lowincome
communities at an attractive interest rate of 4%.
- Make
resources under the Urban Development Enterprise Programme
available to Community Based Organisations for enterprise
initiatives.
- Increase
the amount allocated to the Poverty Fund to allow greater
access to a wider cross-section of households and communities.
- Increase
the Reverse Tax Credit to those who earn less than $13,000
per year.
- Expand
our Welfare to Work Programme as a Family Support Measure.
- Increase
Old Age Pensions whenever public servants receive a wage
increase.
- Offer
the elderly a transportation allowance to enjoy a choice
of travel.
- Take
affirmative action to ensure that Persons with Disabilities
receive appropriate benefits.
URBAN
RENEWAL
A re-elected
BLP government will transform the lives of more Barbadians
through the Urban Renewal programme.
We
will:
- Continue
to deal with squalor in urban Barbados by repairing and
replacing the homes of the poorest of the poor.
- Continue
to provide special assistance for the purchase of house
spots by those persons who cannot afford to pay their portion
of the market value of the land.
- Accelerate
the programme of converting almost 2,000 derelict properties
into new housing solutions with the cooperation of existing
land owners.
- Transform
Cats Castle, Greenfields, Nelson Street, New Orleans and
the Barracks through a Comprehensive Community Upgrade Project
that involves repairs to houses and roads, improved streets
lights, building of community facilities and business kiosks.
COMMUNITY
DIVESTMENT PROGRAMME
Placing
community centers and other facilities under the control of
CBOs
We will
implement a community initiative whereby the operation of
government facilities such as markets and resource centres,
will be placed under the control and management of Community
Based Organisations.
We
will:
- Provide
training in management and maintenance for community leaders.
- Provide
increase funding for enterprise development through the
Rural and Urban Development Enterprise programmes.
- Assist
community leaders with the marketing of their income generating
products and activities.
- Provide
Computer training and access for low-income communities.
- Establish
additional Resource Centres
- Enact
legislation to ensure the highest level of accountability,
transparency, financial prudence and nonpartisanship in
NGO operations.
GATEWAY
TO SUCCESS
The Gateway
Development Concept will use Sports as a means of providing
educational opportunities for gifted and disadvantaged youth.
This will be implemented by way of a partnership between local
CBO’s and our overseas missions.
BUILDING
SOCIAL PARTNERSHIPS
We
will:
- Continue
to give subventions to the Church, NGOs and CBOs to expand
their programmes and to reach more people.
- Make
the Poverty Eradication Fund more community-oriented.
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY A WAY UP FROM POVERTY
The Barbados
Labour Party has already started to make the entire society
technologically literate by making computer training and internet
access available to communities as a measure of self employment
and building job skills.
WELFARE
TO WORK
We will
continue to remove persons from welfare, and provide them
with equal access to enterprise loans at good interest rates,
so that they can establish their own businesses.
CARE
AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN
The
BLP will:
- Implement
a National Policy for children.
- Formulate
a Mentorship Programme in collaboration with the University
of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, BARP and other agencies
for children in care.
- Implement
a Youth Development skills training programme for adolescent
children.
- In
partnership with civil society, provide shelter for children,
adolescents leaving residential care, and give them the
life skills and transitional counseling necessary to enjoy
quality living and re-integration into society.
- Establish
mechanisms to make reporting of child abuse mandatory.
- Encourage
In-Camera hearings for incidents of indecent sexual assault.
CARING
FOR OUR ELDERLY
In creating
a society for all ages we will pursue a programme that allows
our senior citizens to participate in productive and stimulating
activities and to live out their lives in conditions of dignity.
A BLP
government will:
- Enact
Senior Citizens Safety and Protection Legislation.
- Facilitate
education and retraining for older workers who wish to upgrade
their knowledge and skills.
- Establish
a National Meals on Wheels Programme in partnership with
CBO’s and NGO’s which would ensure that indigent
persons, shutins, as well as the elderly, who live alone,
have access to at least one hot nutritious meal each day.
- Continue
to promote the Senior Citizens Games as an important event
on the national calendar.
- Complete
the Vauxhall Senior Citizens’ Village and Day Care
facilities, which provide a range of services for our elderly.
- Offer
incentives to the private sector to build senior citizen
villages.
- Construct
additional Senior Citizens Villages, one each in the centre
and North of the island.
HOMELESSNESS
A
BLP Government will:
- Create
additional temporary accommodation for victims of fire and
flood.
- Work
in partnership with civil society to implement developmental
and rehabilitative programmes at its shelters.
- Improve
accommodation at the Sir Clyde Gollop Night Shelter and
provide a 24hr service in collaboration with other NGO’s.
- Offer
incentives to the Private Sector to build shelters for the
homeless.
IN-HOME
CARE
The
BLP has:
- Restored
the Home Care Programme to a five-day workweek, which was
reduced by the last DLP administration to a three-day workweek.
We now offer service seven days per week for those who need
it.
- Provide
smoke detectors and other safety devices for those senior
citizens who need them.
DEALING
WITH DISABILITIES
Barbados
now has an agreed National Disability Policy and Programme,
which was approved by Parliament.
We
will:
- Implement
safety measures, and encourage self reliance among persons
with disabilities through skills training, enterprise development
and by expanding employment opportunities.
- Improve
and expand transportation services for the disabled.
- Create
a Disabilities Foundation for persons with disabilities
to ensure that they have access to a wide range of social
and economic services.
- Strengthen
Disability Organisations through provision of increased
subventions.
- Give
persons with disabilities expanded political and social
opportunities.
- In
collaboration with NGOs, develop Communal Farming Projects
for persons with disabilities
- Ensure
that all public buildings, curbs and sidewalks are accessible
for persons with disabilities.
- Create
a Special Envoy for Persons with Disabilities.
WELFARE
TO WORK
The Welfare
to Work Programme was started in the last term and a number
of persons were trained and offered assistance with job placements.
We will use the Unemployment Fund to provide training, retraining
and assistance in job placements for redundant workers. Grants
will be given for this purpose to workers and employers organisations.
LABOUR
AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Barbados’
stable industrial relations climate has contributed substantially
to social conditions in which we have sustained development.
The workplace
of the future will be significantly different from that of
yesterday. Thus the relationships between labour and capital
must be so structured as to encourage improved productivity
and strike a happy balance between wages and an equitable
return on investment.
Within
this framework, the re-elected BLP will:
- Promote
policies and practices in industrial relations conducive
to the attainment of full
employment in our time.
- Provide
additional training for workers in general and also re-train
redundant workers to refit them for new careers.
- Enact
the new Occupational Safety and Health Bill.
- Introduce
a Trade Union Registration Act and a Protective Employment
Act after consultation with the Social Partners.
- Enact
Minimum Wage legislation, in selected areas after consultation
with the Social Partners.
- Modernise
the Holiday With Pay Act.
- Update
the Shops Act, particularly in relation to rates of pay
for Sundays and Off Days.
- Enact
a Sexual Harassment Bill.
- Ratify
ILO Conventions after full consultation with the Social
Partners.
TVET
COUNCIL
The
BLP will:
- Implement
the National Vocational Qualification system.
- Use
part of Unemployment Fund to finance re-training of redundant
workers and prepare them for re-entry to the workplace.
VOCATIONAL
TRAINING
The BLP
believes that qualifications enhance the workers’ competence
and capacity.
Through
the Barbados Vocational Training Board, the BLP will:
- Increase
the number of training opportunities to an even wider cross
section of the Barbadian public in keeping with our decision
to extend the retirement age.
- Implement
a retraining programme targeted to the large segment of
the labour market which is at risk of being marginalized
by technological advancements.
- Actively
support the partnership between Government and the Private
Sector with respect to
Enterprise Training.
- Revamp
the Apprenticeship Programme to increase the number of participating
employers.
- Develop
Service Clusters to accommodate grouped trades, aimed at
facilitating income-generating projects.
PENSION
REFORM
In our
1999 Manifesto we pledged to institute new measures to ensure
that the Public Sector Pension Schemes were fully funded.
We also made a commitment to safeguard the continued viability
of the National Insurance Scheme.
In respect
of private pensions a new Occupational Pensions Bill has been
laid in Parliament and its enactment will be a priority in
the new term.
NATIONAL
INSURANCE
The National
Insurance Scheme is on its soundest footing in its 35 years
of existence.
However,
the Scheme has had to face problems arising from demographic
change, falling fertility rates, improved medical care and
an aging population. As a result, the BLP Government set in
train a comprehensive consultative process with civil society
We give
the clear commitment that pensioners will share fairly in
the rising prosperity of the nation.
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