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Chairman’s Address 2006
Madame Chairperson, Dr. Jacqueline Sharpe, President of the Family Planning Association of Trinidad & Tobago (FPATT), Chairman of the International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR) and President of IPPF/Worldwide; Sir George Alleyne, Chancellor, University of the West Indies; the Honourable Camille Robinson Regis, Minister of Planning and Development, the Honourable Anthony Roberts, Minister of Social Development; Mrs. Dona Da Costa Martinez, Executive Director of FPATT; members of the Diplomatic Corps; representatives of international agencies; members of the media; our corporate sponsors; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.
Fifty years have passed since the founding of the Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago, yet today we are still plagued by many of the same problems that led to the creation of the Association in the first place. An article from the Trinidad Express of June 8th, 1969 reads, “The introduction of some system by which sexual knowledge could be acquired in primary and secondary schools throughout Trinidad and Tobago is being considered by the government.” Just last week, the Minister of Education announced that the issue of condoms and sex education are “on the agenda for discussion”.
37 years have passed, therefore, without our leaders seeing fit to implement such an essential programme in schools; 37 years of unplanned pregnancies, back alley abortions and since the 1980s, escalating rates of HIV infection and death. When will we see the handwriting on the wall?
A sample of newspaper headlines from the past year tell this story: “Girl 4, raped and killed”, “Teenage pregnancies on the rise”, “Step dad gets 10 years for killing infant”, “AIDS number one cause of death for persons 15-44 in the Caribbean”. The problems of child sexual abuse, incest, domestic violence and increasing HIV infection did not spiral out of control suddenly.
The truth is that these have been looming for decades, with isolated citizens and various NGOs calling for action all the while. We have not attended to these problems and are today reaping the results of years of negligence.
There is a multitude of evidence showing the link between national development and sexual and reproductive health and rights. All of us working in the field know that when persons are given the information and tools they need to plan their families, the result is that they are better able to care for those children that they do have. They are in a better position to invest in those children so that they become healthy and productive members of society, rather than being neglected and considered burdens.
A national development plan that does not take sexual and reproductive health is worthless to the people it is intended to help. HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections; cervical and prostate cancer; botched abortions; child, spousal and elderly abuse are the issues that plague our people. How can any development plan be successful if large portions of the population are unwell or dead?
So what do we do, as a nation and as an Association?
We stop spinning our tops around in muddy social problems, stand still and see the root causes we need to address, together.
Any successful strategy for social change must involve the community, and must benefit from people power. Over the last couple of months, Trinidad and Tobago witnessed something truly amazing. A unity that many thought was long lost in our society. People of every race, religion and gender came together to support our Soca Warriors. We became a family. We became one. Can you imagine the miracles that would materialise if we could channel this unity into everything we do? Can you imagine what we would accomplish?
FPATT fights everyday for social change. We are truly social warriors of this nation. We fight for the rights of the under-served and our efforts seem to go unnoticed by the policy makers who can help us reach more families, more teenagers, more rape victims or more abused wives. But we, like the Soca Warriors, realise that with constant diligence, in time our efforts will be rewarded.
Unless we stop the cycle of violence, it will be perpetuated and there will never be enough police officers to stop crime. There must be a focus on healing since our current punitive system has proven to be ineffective at dealing with the problems. Last week’s murder of a woman by her estranged husband calls into question the effectiveness of restraining orders as a means of dealing with domestic violence.
There are many NGOs that work to heal families, to give them the skills and resources they need to function properly. Surely it is only by strengthening the family that we can begin to heal our beleaguered nation. What government can do, however, is ensure that valuable resources are diverted to those organizations that best serve the national interest. It is time for these programmes to be properly invested in and replicated nationally. De Living Room, FPATT’s youth clinic, has proven to be a safe haven for adolescents and young people as well as a model of youth sexual and reproductive health care and education. It cannot by itself deal with the high level of teenage pregnancy and HIV infection among young people however. We need our government to take a positive stance to make this service available throughout the country. FPATT stands ready and willing to partner with the Government to provide them with the technical expertise to replicate this model throughout the island.
As far back as the 1970s, FPATT was calling for a programme of comprehensive sex education in schools. Today we are still screaming the same message, waiting for someone to hear the urgency behind the words. We educate our children in everything, we recognise the need for them to gain knowledge, yet we cannot find the reasoning behind arming them with education to make healthy sexual choices. How can this be justifiable?
Over the past 50 years, FPATT has achieved success in almost everything we set out to. We successfully began an Outreach Programme with a state of the art Mobile Clinic, providing sexual and reproductive health services to areas like Rampanalgas, Korea Village and Baracppore. This service has yet to be matched locally.
We opened a youth clinic called De Living Room that is a safe haven for adolescents to access SRH services. This too, has been unmatched locally, but our model has been replicated in other Caribbean and Central American countries.
We successfully reached out to families, teaching parents to talk to their children about HIV and AIDS with the Collaborative HIV and AIDS Management Programme (CHAMP). And these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Awards:
· 2004 Outstanding Youth Programmes, West Wind Foundation
· 2003 Outstanding youth programmes, IPPF
· 2003 Outstanding Family Planning Services, IPPF
· 2003 Mini Max Award for commemorative greeting cards, IPPF
In 2005, the Association enjoyed even more acclaim!
FPATT managed to win funding for two new projects. Providing SRH access to marginalised groups has always been a dream for us. FPATT will begin providing services to sex workers in 2006, a programme that is long over due. We are extremely motivated to make this project a success.
We also gained funding for the development of a programme on the Elimination of unsafe abortion practices in Trinidad and Tobago. This programme is of key importance to this Association. With careful planning and research we intend to eliminate the need for women to have unsafe abortions.
In many ways, the NGO community has been failed by successive governments. The work being done by these organizations have not been properly recognized or facilitated. Last year, our President Dr Jacqueline Sharpe proved that the efforts of exceptional people do not go unnoticed, at least in the international forum. She was appointed chairman of the board of IPPF/WHR, an accomplishment that was later eclipsed by her appointment at the highest level globally as President of IPPF Worldwide. The work of individuals like Dr. Sharpe has been overlooked in this country for too long. Our international partners see the potential we have here, why can’t we see it for ourselves?
We are blessed with intelligent hard working people, willing to give of themselves unconditionally, and we let their talents go untouched. We have the people right here tonight! Who can address some of the crucial and systematic problems we have been facing for years.
Government has a responsibility to not only furnish NGOs with technical and financial assistance, but also to monitor their operations in the public interest. How are these organizations spending money? What mechanisms are in place to ensure that those who are supposed to be aided by NGOs, particularly children, are not preyed upon by them? Government also needs to look at how the skills and capacities in NGOs are utilized, and partner with them in order to achieve development status, “Vision 2020”. (Do the air quote mockingly)
We always hear people use the phrase “from humble beginnings”, because from a humble beginning the only way you have to go is up. It was the vision of a few revolutionaries, determined to fight, challenge and change the way the people of Trinidad and Tobago viewed family planning. We were not born from humbling beginnings… this Association was born into greatness.
Our minds are already filled with the achievements we want over the next fifty years. We see state of the art facilities, a cure for HIV, a population free from unwanted pregnancies and botched abortions. These may be dreams, but for the next few years, we will be laying the foundation to make them reality.
FPATT plans to continue the fight for family involvement in sexual and reproductive health education with CHAMP; we plan to continue the training of nurses in SRH to ensure they are able to meet the growing demand; we plan to increase our access of services for marginalised groups like the differently abled and gay and lesbians; we plan to continue the development of our Voluntary Testing and Counselling service to include all our clinics; We plan to increase our advocacy efforts to include Gay and Lesbian rights, Women rights, Abortion rights and HiV and AIDS awareness.
Partnerships with organizations such as PAHP/WHO, NACC, UNAIDS, UNFPA, CAREC, UWI.SOC assisted the Association to continue to make meaningful contributions to the advancement of sexual and reproductive health. IPPF’s technical assistance helped significantly to weather a most challenging year resulting in building capacity in such areas as inventory management, emergency contraception, electronic integrated management system; and advocacy skills to strengthening its member associations is highly commendable. I extend deepest appreciation to my fellow board members who continue to serve this Association willingly and with a spirit of excellence. I have gained a deeper respect for the Executive Director and staff of the Association, especially those who held the fort during the more challenging times of the year. Thank you for your undying passion for the critical work that you do. I look forward to your contributions in 2006.
