Solidarity Programme Targets Thousands of Jamaicans for Social Protection

The Government’s Solidarity Programme, which is targeting 50,000 vulnerable Jamaicans for a cash grant of $20,000, is being used to bring these persons inside the safety net of social protection.

Speaking with JIS News during the first Solidarity Live Community Engagement session at the Port Maria Anglican Church Hall in St. Mary on August 21, Director of Social Security in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Suzette Morris, said that through the $1 billion programme, the Ministry is aiming to attach the beneficiaries to its regular social protection programmes.

“The programme was launched in a bid to assist the Ministry in closing some of the gaps in access to social protection services,” Ms. Morris said.

She explained that to qualify for Solidarity, persons must not be a beneficiary of the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH), social pension, the National Insurance Scheme or should not have benefited from the reverse income tax initiative.

The programme seeks to assist persons 60 years and older, persons with disabilities, microbusiness owners who have been affected by disaster in the last 12 months, informal low-income workers, the medically indigent, persons without birth certificates, and young people 18 to 35 who are not employed.

With the Solidarity Live series, which is an islandwide engagement, persons can sign up for Solidarity as well as other services of the Ministry.

They can also be referred to other government agencies, such as Tax Administration of Jamaica, the Registrar General’s Department, and the HEART/NSTA Trust at the fair.

“We want you to come into the safety net so you can benefit from some of the services of Government. We are inviting persons to come and take advantage of the programmes that are here for you, so that they can get the necessary support. At the end of the day, what we are looking forward to seeing is the human capital development when persons access social protection services and are constantly being treated with our social protection services, so they can become the best edition of themselves,” Director Morris said.

If the Solidarity Live session is missed, interested persons can visit the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s office in their parish or visit their Member of Parliament’s office to sign up for the programme.

We use this programme to make an appeal. Jamaica at this point is at its lowest level of unemployment, but we are still very conscious that there are many persons who are outside of the labour force. We are inviting those persons to come in and get attached,” Ms. Morris said.