Minister outlines details on programme’s road to transformation
Labour and Social Security Minister, Pearnel Charles Jr, says the reform process for the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) has stared with the establishment of a high-level taskforce to drive the process.
The taskforce will lead the ministry's innovation and transformation project for PATH, with a defined timeline for its completion, according to Charles Jr, who was speaking at a recent post-Cabinet press briefing.
This is the first time that details are being provided into PATH's reform process since Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced its intended transformation to better meet the needs of vulnerable Jamaicans, at a press conference on August 3.
PATH is the most critical arm of the Government's social protection programme, and currently serves more than 284,000 vulnerable Jamaicans.
The taskforce is chaired by Charles Jr, and Minister of State in the Labour and Social Security Ministry, Dr Norman Dunn, will serve as Deputy Chairman.
"The taskforce will take the necessary steps to redesign, restructure and reorganise PATH to ensure that it is able to admit every eligible family that needs the intervention to help them to break the intergenerational poverty cycle," Charles Jr indicated.
"We will expand and enhance its provisions to, first and foremost, enable access to quality education, up to and beyond (the) secondary level, provide interventions to increase human capital accumulation among beneficiary families, enabling them to seek and retain employment, or pursue economic opportunities, and to gradually transition those families who have experienced significant improvement and are no longer in need of PATH," he outlined.
The minister said he is well aware that some persons should be receiving PATH benefits, but they have not been able to do so for some reason.
"We currently have a system that allows for appeals and other processes, but we will be evaluating that system to make sure that, in reforming the programme, it is more accessible, simpler and easier for those who need it most to be identified and to get access,” he assured.
Meanwhile, the ministry is also to engage key stakeholder groups to guide the reform process and advise on best practices.
Among the groups to be engaged with are the National Social Protection Committee (NSPC), which is chaired by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ); other public and private sector partners, and members of the public.
"Our engagement process will include full-scale public engagement through social media, town hall meetings in targeted areas, and targeted discussions with current and former beneficiaries of the programme," Charles Jr stated.
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