Opening Remarks by Dr. Marcia de Castro UN Resident Coordinator

Opening Remarks
by
Dr. Marcia de Castro
UN Resident Coordinator and
UNDPResident Representative for Trinidad and Tobago
UNDP Small Grants Programme
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
•
Dr. the Honourable, Glenn Ramadharsingh, Minister of the People and Social Development
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Ms Grace Talma, Chairperson of the National Steering Committee and other members of that
Committee
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Mr. Joseph Fernandes of the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust Fund
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Members of the UN System
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Members of the Diplomatic Community
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Grantees and Beneficiaries of the Small Grants Programme
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My colleagues in the UNDP office and from other UN agencies
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Members of the Media
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Specially invited guests
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Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Morning.
As Mr. Stork noted we are here today to acknowledge and celebrate the Small Grants Programme
supported by the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust and UNDP that started in 2003,
to share some of our experiences with the program—from the perspective of grantees and community
organizations and from stakeholders and participants,
and to look to the future of this and other efforts to address one of the most pressing issues of Trinidad and
Tobago, and the region.
Frederick Douglas, an American social reformer and former slave said, “It is easier to build strong
children than to repair broken men.”
We all know this to be true. It makes sense to us, and we know the same to be true for females: It is easier
to build strong girls than to repair broken women. But, saying this does not give us a road map for
realizing it in practice.
How do we build strong children while at the same time addressing the problems that have already been
created by the absence of strong families and social structures that assure that our children, our youth, our
young adults, our working parents, our older people have the security and skills required to take care of
themselves and also contribute to building the kind of society we all want and hope for?
One that is safe for all of us? --
where there are learning opportunities and working opportunities that match the needs and the dreams of
our youth and those who care forthem?
Where there is no need for curfews and our jails are not overflowing? Where anyone can walk home at
night without fear?
This was the vision of the Small Grants Programme that was launched in 2003, a time when Trinidad and
Tobago was already recognizing the connection between insecurity, crime, poverty, and the ways in which
our families and communities support (and fail to support) young people to grow into active, honest,
adults who can take care of themselves and their families and also contribute to our shared future.
The theme of the Small Grants Programme is “Healthy Family Functioning.”
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Everywhere, families reflect larger society and also create our present and our future. We have all seen
families that find ways to survive poverty, illness, or other challenges and still create health and confidence
and good values in their children. We have also seen families that mimic the worst inequalities and
vulnerabilities on our streets and in the communities around them so that their children begin to steal
from others and abuse themselves almost as young as they are able to do so.
What are those ingredients needed to create healthy families and good environments for our children and
for ourselves?
And, how can a small grants programme contribute to some experiments, some projects, some thinking,
and some relationships that might help move things in the direction of positive change?
As you can see, the topic is one that links individual families to community structures, that links schools to
parents, sports to ethics, music to scholarship and service, elder care to teenagers’ need to feel a sense of
accomplishment and contribution.
The topic of health family functioning links unemployment to skills development. It recognizes domestic
violence as an obstacle, and sees an opportunity to help those who have already made mistakes, those
leaving our prisons, so they can adjust to society and return to civilian life better able to assume positive
roles in their families and communities.
The small grants programme has so far awarded some 20 grants, and the range of their activities includes
all of the things I have mentioned.
Every example I have listed has been addressed in some way through this small grants programme.
And, it has been addressed not in the abstract realms of research or talk, but in the practical world—on the
streets, in schools and clubs, old folks homes, and homework centres, at very local levels where
opportunity is provided or denied.
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The NSC: Behind the Small Grants Programme every step of the way there has been a group of volunteers,
the National Steering Committee, the heart of the programme.
They publicized the programme, selected the projects that would be funded, and provided technical and
other kinds of support along the way.
I would like for those in the audience who have served on the National Steering Committee of the Small
Grants Programme to stand. I would like to thank you here today. Without you, this programme would
not have accomplished all that it has.
And, of course, at the centre of the programme are all of the people, organizations, and institutions that
have carried out work in their communities.
The Grantees: All of them were doing good things before they received funding from the SGP, and most if
not all of them are still continuing with that work even now that the first phase of funding is complete.
Could we also ask that you stand?
Without your work, there would have been no Small Grants Programme on Healthy Family Functioning.
We thank you, as well, for your hard work and commitment.
The donor: Third, we want to acknowledge Joseph and Cynthia Fernandes who are with us today, and the
larger Fernandes family and Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors, who contributed the resources in a grant
to UNDP to make this program possible.
And, last but not least, I want to acknowledge those on the UNDP staff (present and past) and other
partners who worked directly on the program, who met with Mary Ann Burris, who evaluated the program,
or who played a role by giving time, ideas, or introductions that made this work all that it has become.
Thank you, as well.
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The evaluation: Late last year, UNDP conducted an evaluation of the Small Grants Programme. The main
findings and recommendations, and the full report, are available to those who are interested.
From this evaluation, and from our own experiences with this programme over the years, we have learned
several important lessons.
I will share only 3 today:
1) It is important to think creatively and inclusively.
Healthy family functioning is a multi-faceted issue that calls for experimentation and action at a range of
levels of intervention and direction. The program, as the video demonstrates, has stretched those limits in
exciting ways. There is no right way into this work, there are many.
2) There are challenges in working at grassroots and community levels. Some of these challenges are
monetary; others have to do with capacity and leadership. Any small grants programme of this nature will
continuously and creatively have to address these challenges. It is worth the effort to do this and do it well.
3) To move from a collection of good projects and promising activities at community levels to a PROGRAM
that leverages its experiences and learning more widely, additional steps must be taken. We want to take
those steps.
I am happy to announce today that the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust has agreed to fund, through
Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors, a second phase of the Small Grants Programme. This second iteration
will enable us to build from our strengths and remedy some of the weaknesses pointed out in our
evaluation and recognized by many of us.
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This second phase of work will enable us to engage the media, academics, and government in this pressing
set of issues.
Further, it will challenge us at the United Nations to link our other program areas and activities so that the
sum is greater than its parts—that, working coherently and together, we can build a PROGRAM.
Already, UNDP has been deeply involved, with a range of partners (some in this room today), in addressing
Citizen Security. We have been involved in Mentoring programs, and Corporate Social Responsibility
programs. We are involved in Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods, and Health. We can look critically and
clearly at the programme to date and revise our approach, administration, support, and linkages so that we
can better judge our impact, engaging more individuals and organizations with us as we do so. We can
involve some of Trinidad and Tobago’s world-renowned academics, researchers, and writers. We can
rekindle and create links to government agencies and other partners.
That is my hope for the next phase of this Small Grants Programme—that it build from these good
beginnings into a real PROGRAM, that it have many who care about it and nurture its next steps, that we
see impact and begin to understand what it takes to tackle these issues. I think that we have what we need
to realize my hope if we work together.
I will close again by thanking all of you who have been a part of this good work, and by encouraging others,
in the room and outside this room, to join us. Thank you.
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