Gov’t Committed to Partnerships to Strengthen Citizen Security

Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of National Security and Peace, Shauna Trowers, has reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to working with the development partners to strengthen citizen security and empower at-risk youth.

Speaking at the graduation and closing ceremony for the European Union (EU)-sponsored Building through Reintegration, Intervention, Development, Growth, and Education (BRIDGE) Project, she said that the collaboration involving the Ministry, the EU, and implementing agency, the MultiCare Youth Foundation (MYF), reflects a shared vision for peace, safety, and youth empowerment.

“The Ministry of National Security and Peace has enjoyed great working relationships with both the EU and the MYF, and I think it’s easy to get along when we have the same vision and our goals align,” she said.

She was speaking at the closing ceremony held recently at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

The 34-month BRIDGE project provided layered, evidence-based interventions targeting at-risk youth in communities across Kingston and St. Andrew, Clarendon, Westmoreland, and St. James.

It focused on strengthening literacy, life and employability skills, mentorship, and behavioural support.

More than 300 young people benefited from training, counselling, internships, and vocational placements, while teachers, community members, and youth workers were also trained to ensure sustainability and continued community impact.

Ms. Trowers noted that the BRIDGE Project, which focused on providing interventions to curb crime and violence among youth aged 15 to 29, addressed key socio-economic issues affecting vulnerable communities.

“We endorsed the programme and continue to endorse initiatives like this because it goes to the heart of some of the critical issues – reducing risk while building capacity,” she said, adding that “it’s one thing to give a man a fish, but it’s another to teach him to fish. No one partner can do it alone.”

The Chief Technical Director underscored that true progress in citizen security requires coordinated, sustained, and community-driven action.

“Having worked with our partners to provide for citizen security, we have learned, we have failed, we have relearned, and we appreciate that the community must work at all levels to get it right as we tackle a multidimensional issue,” she pointed out.

She noted that the project, which reached youth across five communities in four parishes, was successful in “meeting people where they’re at and providing avenues to improve lives, particularly those of our young people”.

While hailing the achievements, Ms. Trowers said that much more needs to be done in ensuring safe, secure communities and empowering individuals, and expressed optimism that continued collaboration with international development partners (IDPs) such as the EU and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like the MYF will yield even greater results.