Gov’t to Partner with Facebook to Broadcast Ananda Alerts

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will be partnering with social media giant, Facebook, to broadcast Ananda Alerts.

In his contribution to the 2017/18 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on April 5, State Minister in the Ministry, Hon. Floyd Green noted that a Facebook team will be visiting Jamaica in May for the official launch of the partnership.

“This partnership will enable the broadcast of Ananda Alerts on the pages of all Facebook users in Jamaica, which will ensure that we have a larger pool searching for our children when they go missing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Green informed that the backlog of sexual-offence cases at the Child Development Agency (CDA) has been cleared.

As it relates to the planned merger of the CDA and the Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR), he noted that the move aims to “remove the bureaucracy from child protection”.

“The CDA and OCR merger is not a cost-saving measure. The focus will be on efficiency, roles and effectiveness. The motivating factor is to have a child-protection sector which appropriately responds to the needs of our children,” he pointed out.

He added that in the new dispensation, the Registry functions will be sufficiently protected to guarantee the necessary legal safeguards in child-abuse cases.