Clarendon Community Benefits from RGD’s Child’s Month Outreach Programme

In celebration of May as Child’s Month, the Registrar General’s Department has organised a series of outreach sessions in rural communities, designed to encourage residents to take advantage of the department’s various services.
At a recent session held in Rocky Point in southern Clarendon, Sydian Brissett, RGD’s Marketing and Planning Manager explained to JIS News that the sessions were designed to bring persons up to date with the birth registration process as well as to resolve issues concerning record updating and correction of errors.
“We thought that Child’s Month would be a good time for us to actually reach out to these communities, to take the extra time to go through the processes, explain to persons in detail, and give them an opportunity to check the registration of their children,” she informed. Similar activities are planned for communities in St. Thomas, Portland, St. Elizabeth and Clarendon.
These sessions, she pointed out, were being held outside of the department’s regular public outreach programme, which included the processing on applications through the mobile unit.
Cecile Banton, Acting Regional Manager for the RGD’s southern region, said that her department was willing to use every available opportunity to serve the public. “We have an interest in serving outside of our formal offices because we recognize the cost of coming to us in terms of time, travel and the service itself. We also find that persons are more comfortable in a less formal environment where they are able to discuss personal issues. We want other communities to invite us in and this will help to alleviate the overcrowding at our corporate offices,” she stated.
Norma Washington, housewife from Rocky Point, commended the RGD for its initiative in bringing the service to the community.
“I wanted a birth certificate for my son and it was difficult for me to do the status in Spanish Town because the father of the child is a working person and it’s hard for him to make it to Spanish Town. Lots of mothers are here whose children have never had a birth certificate and now they have access to the service and we’re glad they’re here,” she pointed out.
More than 170 residents from Rocky Point and adjoining districts such as Rocky Settlement and Portland Cottage, benefited from the outreach.