On 24 August, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded an information campaign across Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique about how to protect children from abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Grenada Child Protection Authority (CPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will carry out the campaign, which includes sharing posters, videos, animations, and dramas on radio and social media. Representatives of USAID, CPA, UNICEF, and US Embassy Grenada met virtually on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 to commemorate the campaign launch.
“I would like to extend a profound thanks and gratitude to UNICEF and USAID for their contribution to children in care during this difficult period by providing much needed hygiene and sanitation products,” said Director of the Grenada Child Protection Authority, Yvonne Da Breo. “Through this contribution, 5 childcare residential homes and over 65 families and 300 children have benefited from this much needed contribution.”
USAID Eastern and Southern Caribbean Regional Representative Clinton White stated, “It’s stories like these that reach your heart. Knowing that our collaborative efforts are benefitting the people most at need gives us joy and pleasure that we are able to help in this way.” This USAID/UNICEF campaign is part of a US$375,433 programme to fund radio health advisories about Covid-19, web-based training on child protection to 600 faith-based leaders, development of posters with Ministries of Education to teach children how to protect themselves from Covid-19, and other risk communication initiatives. USAID and UNICEF are also documenting and analysing the impact of quarantines, isolation, and school closures on women, children, and families to understand what can be done better to support them.
The United States has already donated US$2.2 million through USAID to help Caribbean countries scale up their risk communication efforts, provide water and sanitation, prevent and control infectious diseases in health facilities, manage Covid-19 cases, build laboratory capacity, and conduct virus surveillance. Over the past 20 years, the United States have provided more than US$840 million to the Caribbean, US$236 million of which was for health initiatives.
CPA will post a link to the CPA Campaign Launch Video on the CPA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectChildrenGrenada/
US Embassy Barbados
