Minister Charles Commends CVVSS for Eight Decades of Impact

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., has commended the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) and its volunteers for their steadfast dedication and lasting impact on the lives of many Jamaicans for more than eight decades.

He noted that the team was integral in helping Jamaicans navigate various challenges, particularly in the aftermath of Category-Five Hurricane Melissa.

“Our country is recovering from the most devastating hurricane that we have seen in our history. A country recovers more efficiently when help can find the people who need it… among them are seniors, families cut off by damaged roads… persons with disabilities.

“The Ministry could not have achieved almost 120,000 assessments without volunteers. Our volunteers help to connect public service with the reality of the lives of those who have been impacted, bringing local knowledge that makes assistance easier to reach, and drawing the attention of responsible agencies to the need that might otherwise go unseen,” Mr. Charles said.

The Minister was speaking on Thursday (November 5) during the biennial national volunteer conference held at the AC Hotel by Marriott Kingston. The event took place under the theme ‘Crisis to Capacity: Building a Future-Ready Volunteer Ecosystem for a Resilient Jamaica’.

Mr. Charles noted that, according to CVSS data, approximately 9,000 volunteers registered during the first week following Hurricane Melissa, highlighting the need for greater collaboration to optimise their impact.

“You stepped up. We could never have achieved what we achieved without you. The measure of your success today should be what changes for the person waiting for help… what will change in terms of our capacity to identify a need sooner, to make it accessible, more inclusive. That is how we must show that we are prepared, as a team, to take on the challenges of the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Charles called for enhanced collaboration between tertiary institutions and the CVSS to further strengthen Jamaica’s disaster preparedness, response, and data analysis.

“I’m of the view that our tertiary institutions must collaborate with the Council and must collaborate with all elements prior to any thought of any disaster in better preparing us, not just in how to approach and operate and execute on the ground but how to take data and analyse the data to the benefit of the country in terms of how we reallocate and how we use our resources.

“The goal cannot be to just collect data. The goal must be to use all of our interactions to train as many participants as possible, and then to take all of that and crunch it into numbers that make us improve in terms of how we mobilise and how we execute,” he said.

Mr. Charles pointed out that the Caribbean School of Data at the University of the West Indies (UWI) trained communities in digital mapping just weeks before Hurricane Melissa.

He said the training enabled participants to submit more than 110 incident reports through the ChatMap initiative, using WhatsApp to describe conditions and needs in their areas.

“This was done in support of the natural disaster response mobilised by the National Spatial Inter-Management Branch and its partners. That example is important because it bears on how we invest,” Minister Charles stated.

Meanwhile, CVSS Chair, Kerry Scott, emphasised that volunteerism is much more than an act of goodwill, noting that it serves as a vital pillar of community development and national resilience.

“However, our challenge must now be to move from spontaneous response to a more coordinated, strategic and sustainable approach to volunteerism. We must invest in preparedness, training, technology, organisational development and stronger partnerships so that our volunteer sector is equipped, not only to respond to crisis but also to anticipate challenges and contribute meaningfully to national development,” he said.

Public Affairs Officer at the United States (US) Embassy in Kingston, Erin Mai Jarrett, stated that the US was proud to support the conference through a public diplomacy grant awarded to the CVSS.

“We recognise that a stronger, more resilient Jamaica contributes to the security and prosperity of the entire region. We know that true resilience never comes from government action alone, it lives in the grassroots, in the communities, organisations, schools, faith-based networks, businesses and everyday citizens.

“For decades, CVSS has been the beating heart of this collective effort, connecting people who want to serve with organisations that need their skills, and helping turn individual acts of generosity into coordinated lasting impact,” she said.

The conference aimed to explore how Jamaica can strengthen volunteerism as a critical resource for national development and disaster resilience.