Officials at the OECS Secretariat say the delivery of social services must be improved in order to effectively implement new legislation on Family Law and Domestic Violence in the OECS.

Manager of the OECS Family Law Project Marcia Lesmond says the structure of social services in the sub-region has been found to be inadequate: “The concern was always raised as to whether or not the social services structures as they now exist can facilitate that process successfully and of course the answer is no. They are weak, they are overworked. Perhaps there is need for staff training and so on. A lot of needs have been identified.”

Lennon is also impressed by the level of interest to develop social services that effectively execute new harmonized legislation on Family Law and Domestic Violence in the OECS: “I must say that this is an excellent project and we are certainly working together to ensure that it is successful because the rest of the Caribbean can certainly learn something from this historic piece of work in the OECS. I know that people want to see this change. So they will make themselves available so that they can give all the necessary information that is needed.”-Lennon

Training is among areas of the support OECS Member Countries stand to receive after the level of social services delivery is assessed: “We talked about institutional strengthening and we talked about building on their capacity. That would actually entail some form of training. One of the things we need to do is sensitize the practitioners of the new model legislation. There is also the need for an integrated legal system and the social services support so that the two work in sync to deliver a better quality of product for clients, families and children in the OECS.-Lesmond

The CIDA Gender Equity Fund Programme and UNICEF are main sponsors of  the consultancy for the social services delivery support component of the Family Law and Domestic Violence Reform Project