JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Govt's laudable MPowerTT programme

by

846 days ago
20230315

It's well known that crime erad­i­ca­tion must be tack­led from many an­gles, in­clud­ing out­reach pro­grammes in at-risk com­mu­ni­ties that of­fer young peo­ple al­ter­na­tives to the lure of crim­i­nal-mind­ed peers.

Such pro­grammes are not of­ten tossed to the fore­front of pub­lic at­ten­tion as quick­ly as the neg­a­tive events are, but hold ma­jor sig­nif­i­cance to the turn­around of our crime sit­u­a­tion when done ef­fec­tive­ly.

This is the case with the Mpow­erTT pro­gramme just com­plet­ed by the Min­istry of Sport and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment that cul­mi­nat­ed with the grad­u­a­tion of over 200 young and vul­ner­a­ble men on Sat­ur­day.

The pro­gramme aimed to en­gen­der hope, some­thing we all des­per­ate­ly need af­ter record­ing the high­est homi­cide fig­ure in our his­to­ry last year.

To ef­fec­tive­ly present a sin­gle vul­ner­a­ble man with an op­por­tu­ni­ty to take him away from neg­a­tive in­flu­ences is a win in it­self. To do so with 200 of them, should not go unan­nounced.

The facts as they are can­not be sug­ar-coat­ed.

The young men who took to the podi­um at the grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mo­ny are the types eas­i­ly stereo­typed for their rugged out­ward ap­pear­ances and, more sim­plis­ti­cal­ly, for the com­mu­ni­ties they re­side in.

Yet, their very pres­ence there proved their com­mit­ment to reach high­er de­spite the chal­lenges they face.

To grad­u­ate, they each had to com­plete sev­er­al months of cours­es care­ful­ly de­signed by the min­istry and strong­ly sup­port­ed by the po­lice, busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty and The Bar­cam, a de­vel­op­men­tal or­gan­i­sa­tion pri­mar­i­ly in­volved in the ex­e­cu­tion of ac­tiv­i­ties and pro­grammes aimed at the de­vel­op­ment of youth, com­mu­ni­ties and oth­ers.

It in­volved the cre­ation of spaces known as Mzones, where men could talk with old­er men­tors about top­ics such as the de­f­i­n­i­tion of a man, re­spect, their role in so­ci­ety, avoid­ing gang vi­o­lence and crime, sex­u­al health and oth­er is­sues.

The next stage in­volved life skills train­ing such as din­ing eti­quette, fi­nan­cial lit­er­a­cy, com­mu­ni­ca­tion and prepa­ra­tion of busi­ness pro­pos­als.

Phase three fo­cused on a psy­cho­log­i­cal and skill as­sess­ment, where­in life coach­es and psy­chol­o­gists were present to spend time with each of the par­tic­i­pants work­ing through their par­tic­u­lar is­sues.

In the last stage, par­tic­i­pants were placed in paid in­tern­ships for ten weeks in their par­tic­u­lar field of in­ter­est.

On Sat­ur­day, they were sup­port­ed by a packed ball­room of par­ents, busi­ness of­fi­cials, se­nior po­lice of­fi­cers - in­clud­ing for­mer Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Mc Don­ald Ja­cob - and sev­en Cab­i­net mem­bers and Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment.

It was, quite right­ly so, a cel­e­bra­tion of their com­mit­ment and de­ter­mi­na­tion to dare to be dif­fer­ent in com­mu­ni­ties known more for their ills than suc­cess­es.

The pro­gramme, the brain­child of Min­is­ter Sham­fa Cud­joe, op­er­at­ing un­der a man­date by Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley to change the neg­a­tive stereo­types about young peo­ple, will be re­cy­cled each year, tar­get­ing more young peo­ple in vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties.

The min­istry and all those who con­tributed are on the right road and de­serve all the sup­port they can get in mak­ing this pro­gramme a grow­ing suc­cess.

But above all, we salute the young men who grad­u­at­ed from the MPow­erTT pro­gramme for the re­silience and in­spi­ra­tion they have shown in the steps they took over the last six months.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

Ringmasters of the Road: Crowds flock to Tribe’s circus-themed band launch

22 hours ago
Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Scotiabank Foundation, United Way donate steelpans

22 hours ago
The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

Yesterday
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

Yesterday