Positive Parenting to Be Highlighted at PIOJ’S Best Practice Symposium on November 11

Positive parenting and its impact on children will be the centrepiece of discussions on November 11, when the Planning Institute of Jamica (PIOJ) hosts the 11th staging of the Best Practice Symposium for Social and Community Development.

Highlighting the critical importance of promoting the best practices of evidence-based parenting approaches, PIOJ Community Renewal Programme Research Specialist, Kaodi McGaw, told a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank on November 5, that the topic was selected due to the correlating impact on the society.

“The Best Practice Symposium is really about talking about solutions, and parenting is such an important topic for social and community development. Parenting is so central to the development of children. It informs all of their long-term outcomes. We know how children are raised in the home has a big impact on how they regulate their emotions,” Ms. McGaw said.

The symposium will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. under the theme ‘Positive Parenting. Thriving Children. Safer Communities’ and can be viewed on the PIOJ’s YouTube channel.

It will be followed by a free Parenting Village on November 12 at Emancipation Park from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. where participants will have access to a range of government services and private businesses.

Ms. McGaw noted that from interactions with volatile communities, parenting is often the area where most requests for support are made.

“We know that communities themselves, especially communities that are affected by violence, they ask often and say that parenting is one of the biggest issues that they have and call for more intervention, more resources around parenting,” she said.

The symposium will also feature keynote speaker, Professor Emeritus of Child Health, Child Development and Behaviour at the University of the West Indies, Maureen Samms-Vaughn, as well as other local and international speakers.

Also presenting at the JIS Think Tank was Programme Manager of the PIOJ Violence Prevention Partnership Programme, Anabelle Jones.

The Violence Prevention Programme is a partnership between the Jamaican Government and the UK Government.

Ms. Jones said that the UK sees the symposium as an opportunity for evidence learning, research and practical experiences to learn about what strengthens families and parental support.

“We recognise that parenting interventions cannot be implemented in isolation. They must be informed by the realities that face Jamaican families and supported through partnerships among government, communities, civil society, and other critical stakeholders,” she said.

To get more details on the symposium, persons can visit the PIOJ website and search for Best Practice Symposium 2026.