Talking about poverty and sharing experiences provide a good opportunity to combat this social challenge.

That’s according to Secretary of Health, Wellness and Family Development Dr. Agatha Carrington, as Tobago hosted two days of focus group discussions on poverty in Tobago. The sessions were conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Health Division.

“We embrace and support these discussions as they allow us to understand each person’s experience as it pertains to poverty,’ Dr. Carrington stated, “and they give us the opportunity to design the necessary programmes and services to impact our population in a more focused way.”

“The Division has been reshaped to focus on the family so we have strategically placed our social workers in the community to better serve our population.”

The Secretary said the “rich data” generated from these discussions will directly impact the Division’s work, especially its interventions in Tobago’s communities.

The sessions were held from August 13-14 at the Anne Mitchell Gift Auditorium of the Scarborough Library Facility and at the Roxborough Secondary School respectively.

UNDP Resident Representative ad interim for Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten Madgy Martinez Soliman said the United Nations has “made a bold commitment to end poverty by 2030,” particularly with placing “No Poverty” as the first Sustainable Development Goal.