In a groundbreaking effort to bridge long-standing divides between religious groups and LGBTQ+ communities, the
The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) is currently running a bold new digital series that is
Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) invites applications from qualified individuals to serve on its Board of Directors.
This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to regional leadership, strengthen governance, and support an organization at the forefront of human rights and public health in the Caribbean.
Kobe is a Black youth activist from Guyana whose advocacy began after the loss of his mother to ovarian cancer due to inadequate health services. With a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Guyana, he is committed to championing sexual and reproductive rights, particularly among young men. He currently serves as the Gender-Based Violence Training Consultant at UNFPA, leading capacity-building sessions with the Guyana Police Force. Kobe is also a board member of Fòs Feminista and has held leadership roles in the Youth Advocacy Movement and the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association, where he has educated over 3,000 youth on Comprehensive Sexuality Education.
His extensive work includes serving on the boards of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and GRPA, consulting on policy for Merundoi under the EU/UN Spotlight Initiative, and coordinating a PAHO COVID-19 response project focused on vulnerable communities. He also provided legal aid through SASOD to LGBTQ asylum seekers and successfully lobbied for Guyana’s reintegration policy for teenage mothers. Kobe has represented Guyana in international conferences and was honored with the National Youth Award and named a Women Deliver Young Leader in 2018.
Climate justice begins with recognizing that key groups are differently affected by climate change. Generally, many victims of climate change also have disproportionately low responsibility for causing the emissions responsible for climate change in the first place – particularly youth or people of any age living in developing countries that produce fewer emissions per capita than is the case in the major polluting countries.
Low-income communities, people of color, indigenous people, people with disabilities, older or very young people, women – all can be more susceptible to risks posed by climate impacts like raging storms and floods, increasing wildfire, severe heat, poor air quality, access to food and water, and disappearing shorelines.
Achieving climate justice would mean putting equity and human rights at the core of decision-making and action on climate change. “Nothing for us without us”
The nonliving part of the environment has three main parts:
People, animals, plants, and all other living things rely on the nonliving parts of the environment to survive. The part of the environment where life happens is called the biosphere.
The biosphere is made up of many ecosystems. These are communities of living things and the nonliving things that they rely on.
Source: Britannica Kids
Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising global average temperatures.
The average temperature of the Earth’s surface is now about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s (before the industrial revolution) and warmer than at any time in the last 100,000 years. The last decade (2011-2020) was the warmest on record, and each of the last four decades has been warmer than any previous decade since 1850.
Many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others.
The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.
Source: UN
Santo Rosario a sociologist by training is the Executive Director of the Centre for Integrated Training and Research (COIN). Over the past 19 years his work has supported and strengthened disenfranchised groups empowering them to set up their own organizations. Examples of this include “Amigos Siempre Amigos,” an NGO by and for the MSM community, which is now a leader in the field; and MODEMU, the first Sex Workers Association in the Dominican Republic and indeed the Caribbean. Rosario is a co-founder of the National Coalition of AIDS Service Organizations (ONGSIDA) which helps coordinate civil society’s response to HIV/AIDS in the Dominican Republic.
Joan Didier, Executive Director (volunteer) of the St. Lucia AIDS Action Foundation (AAF) which is an umbrella NGO based in St. Lucia that works with a wide range of stakeholders, including the private sector, persons living with HIV and AIDS, youth, men who have sex with men, and sex workers.
She is the Director of the OECS Regional Co-ordinating Mechanism for the current OECS Global Fund Grant. Miss Didier is an experienced Trainer and Facilitator with expertise in Voluntary Counseling and Testing, Behavior Change Communication, Advocacy and Human Rights. She has been instrumental in helping to get the St. Lucia private sector involved in HIV and has succeeded in helping the private sector to develop HIV policies for their enterprises. She is a human rights advocate and assisted in the organization of the PLHIV support group TLC. Miss Didier has represented both St. Lucia and the OECS at several regional and international meetings.
R. Anthony Lewis, PhD. serves as CVC Board Secretary. He has been an advocate and strategist on human rights and social justice issues since he was a teenager, and went on to work as a reporter specializing in, among other things, HIV and AIDS reporting (1993 – 1995). He was Director of Advocacy and Public Education at Jamaica AIDS Support between 2003 and 2005 and also worked in Targeted Interventions for MSM, inmates and sex workers. He is a trained translator who speaks French, Spanish, English, Jamaican and Haitian Kreyol.
He has represented CVC in a number of regional and international fora, including the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers meeting, the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, the Global Forum on MSM and HIV Pre-Conference, training meetings of the PANCAP law, ethics and human rights program; and the PANCAP Regional Condom Policy process with a mandate to ensure it addressed an enabling environment for condom access for youth, sex workers, gay and bisexual men, and other at risk groups.
ethnography of masculine sexual work carried out by Columbia University and Amigos Siempre Amigos (ASA) in the Dominican Republic, as well as other studies to design and develop educational material on human sexuality, HIV and AIDS, and Sexual Transmission Disease (STD).
Ethel Pengel is the founder and CEO of the Double Positive Foundation which is an NGO in Surinam catering for women and girls affected by and living with HIV. As someone who is herself a woman living with HIV, she has been involved with numerous local and regional entities inclusive of the Caribbean Network of Sero-Positives (CRN +). She is a member of Suriname’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Ministry of Health regarding HIV/AIDS.
She has managed two grassroots organizations (Stichting Broko Doro and Stichting Mamio Namen project Suriname) both of which had an enviable track record of providing care,support and income generating opportunities for persons living with HIV.
Ian McKnight, MSc, has been involved in HIV development work since 1991 when he co-founded Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL), serving as its Executive Director from 1991 until 2002. He later served as Director of Targeted Interventions and Director for Social Marketing and Public Education. He was the Violence Prevention Specialist and Media and Communications Specialist on JA-STYLE, a USAID-funded/Ministry of Health adolescent reproductive health project and later became the Programmes Manager of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) from 2006-November 2009 and Executive Director from 2009 – 2013.
As a Facilitator, McKnight has given service to PANCAP/CARICOM’s “Champion for Change” initiative and the Saint Maarten National HIV Programme’s Advocacy and Policy Development Training. As a trainer, McKnight’s clients include UNIFEM, Fluid Bodies Project in New York, the Caribbean HIV AIDS Alliance, Kwanza Productions and Value Added Services.
Jaevion Nelson holds an MSc in Social Development and Communication from the University of Wales, Swansea in the United Kingdom where he was a Chevening Scholar; and a BSc in Management Studies (Marketing) from the University of the West Indies.
He has over seven years of work in social development and communication. He has experience working in civil society as a programmer and advocate on issues relating to governance, sexual and reproductive health and rights, violence prevention, human rights, youth rights and participation and communication.
Some of his previous positions include being a reporter at Jamaica’s oldest newspaper – the Gleaner Co. Ltd.; Teacher at the Convent of Mercy Academy “Alpha” and Programme Officer & Campaign Coordinator at the Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA), where he managed two national peace campaigns. He has lobbied US foreign policymakers on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on issues relating to youth sexual and reproductive health, human rights and HIV. He has represented civil society at several human rights, youth development and HIV meetings, including speaking on panels on Capitol Hill and the UN High level Meeting on HIV.
Howard Gough graduated with honors from the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology with a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology. While studying advanced psychiatric nursing in 1986 Mr. Gough became fascinated with drug addiction. This curiosity took Howard first to London on a European Union-funded scholarship where he used one year to qualify for a two-year diploma in Mental Health studies with emphasis on addiction management.
He returned to Jamaica in 1989 and began the development of drug treatment programmes on behalf of the government. He first crafted the treatment programme for the Detoxification Unit at the University Hospital and then moved to co-develop ‘Patricia House’ a residential, rehabilitation centre which he managed for 22 years. He has also served as consultant to CARICOM; as a Caribbean trainer for the London-based Richmond Psychosocial Foundation; Lecturer at UWI, Northern Caribbean University and the Mico Teachers’ College in Jamaica. He has traveled extensively across the Caribbean, Central and North America, Asia and Europe, in a bid to advance his understanding of addiction and the people affected.
Mr. Cruickshank has been a member of the senior management team at CVCC since 2009 and has extensive experience in the field of HIV which has given him intimate knowledge of the Human Rights and HIV and AIDS landscape as well as the community-based response to development. He has represented CVCC at the regional and global levels with distinction over the years.
Currently Ivan serves in several major leadership positions in Jamaica’s HIV response, including Chairing both the Jamaica CCM and the National Technical Working Group for Enabling Environment and Human Rights as well as serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the National Family Planning Board – Sexual Health Agency as well as the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council. In addition, he serves as Chair of the Equality for All Foundation and is a past member of the Boards of Jamaica Network of Seropositives, and the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network
Dona Da Costa Martinez, EMBA, Co-Chair of CVC joined the Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT) in August 1985 and has served as its Executive Director since 1999. She is the Chairperson of the Prevention Sub Committee of the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) and is a member of several other multidisciplinary committees including a Technical Working Committee on Sexual and Reproductive Health appointed by the Ministry of Health.Under her leadership at FPATT, the organisation has introduced “De Living Room”, the only centre in Trinidad and Tobago providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services to young persons under age 25; health care services for sex workers, and other at risk populations; the integration of voluntary counseling and testing for HIV into SRH services; post abortion counseling; and advocating for the provision of safe abortion services for women who choose to have one.
Name of organization | Target population | Summary |
United and Strong | LGBT | This project provides peer education training, information, health education and communication materials, and sensitization exercises to the LGBT community as well as health care professionals and support services organizations; and the nation through press releases that inform about HIV, human right, stigma and discrimination. |
Name of organization | Target population | Summary |
Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation (CFPA) | MY | This project is geared at sensitizing the public on marginalized groups through the distribution of IEC Materials as well as supporting marginalized youth in addressing their sexual and reproductive health by providing increased access to a minimum package of prevention services inclusive of information, education and materials for HIV/STI prevention; talks, condoms, lubricants, condom demonstration, as well as referral to HIV testing, support groups, primary health care and safe spaces. |
Women Against Rape Inc (WAR) | Marginalized Women | The project implements a peer outreach program where peer educators connect with vulnerable and marginalised women to increase their knowledge of STI-HIV/AIDS, sexual health, gender base violence and human rights; increased access to comprehensive sexual health services, HIV testing and counselling, GBV reporting and counselling, increased access to safer sex commodities, educational materials; and referrals to friendly networks including health and legal referral services; increasing human rights awareness and scaling-up of community mobilisation through sensitization of front line workers including health care providers and law enforcement. |
Antigua Resilience Collective Inc (ARC) | Migrant Sex Workers | This is a peer education project aimed at training a cadre of female spanish sex worker peer educators who will connect with the sex worker population in Antigua and Barbuda to educate, counsel and support their peers on HIV/STI transmission, safe sex, and violence towards female Spanish sex workers. The project will build the individual capacity of each peer educator with advocacy skills, knowledge of human rights issues, safe sex practices and safe networking with peers. |
Name of organization | Target population | Summary |
Productive Organization for Women in Action (POWA) | LGBT/PLHIV/MY | The project uses peer education to strengthen girls and women in leadership and decision making skills; provide knowledge and support for referral services and continued access to education. |
Promoting Empowerment Through Awareness for Lesbian and Bisexual Women (PETAL) | Lesbian/Bisexual Women | This project aims to expand women’s knowledge and leadership capacity to advocate about gaps in violence and discriminatory laws in Belize through workshops on gender-based violence among other topics. |
Empower Yourself Belize Movement (EYBM) | MSM/MY/YSW | This project focuses on using mobile technology and peer to peer methodology to engage, empower and educate targeted populations on their Sexual & Reproductive Health and Human Rights and facilitate access to relevant services to maintain healthy lifestyles. |
Name of organization | Target population | Project Summary |
Kouraj | Gay men/MSM | This project delivers peer education to men who have sex with men in Port-au-Prince in three neighbourhoods. |
Movimiento Socio Cultural Para Los Trabajadores Haitianos/as (MOSCTHA) | Marginalized youth in the border town of Ouanaminthe, Haiti | This project works with marginalized youth to deliver peer education and strengthen youth advocates for structural change. |
FEBs | Men who have sex with men | In the north-west of the country, this project will deliver a peer education program targeting MSM; build capacity of MSM leaders, and sensitize community leaders to reduce stigma and discrimination. |
Fondation SEROvie | Men who have sex with men | In Port-au-Prince this project will target MSM. |
Name of organization | Target population | Project Summary |
Foundation He & HIV | HIV+ Men who have sex with men | This project provides outreach, referrals, testing and care and support for low-income HIV positive men who have sex with men. |
Suriname Men United | Men who have sex with men | This project reaches gay-identifying men who have sex with men and develops media spots to address LGBT stigma and discrimination. |
“BUILDING ON WHAT WORKS: REPLICATING MODEL PROGRAMMING AND ADVOCACY INTERVENTIONS AND DEEPENING CARIBBEAN COMMUN
Name of organization | Target population | Project Summary |
Artistes in Direct Support | Marginalized youth | This project targets young men who have sex with men and aims to give them the life-skills and sexual reproductive health information they need as young men. |
Youth Challenge Guyana | Sex workers | This project reaches low-literacy sex workers in mining communities with a minimum package of services. |
Volunteer Youth Corps Inc. | Marginalized youth | This project provides peer education, income generation training and case management for marginalized youth. |
SASOD | LGBT | This project addresses stigma and discrimination towards LGBT people in Guyana through targeted campaigns. |
Name of organization | Target population | Project Summary |
TRANSSA (Trans Siempre Trans) | Transgender women living with HIV | provides a minimum package of services to HIV positive transgender women as well as information about safer feminization processes and access to primary healthcare. |
GAYP | Men who have sex with men | delivers an LGBT-led community radio show addressing a wide range of health and human rights issues in the community. |
CAJIR (Consejo Asesor Internacional de la Juventud Rural) | Marginalized youth | This is a peer education model with marginalized youth in an impoverished, rural community called Vallejuelo. Youth are exposed to sexual reproductive health information through film nights. Community health centers are sensitized on the needs of these youth. |
Fundación Red de Jóvenes Unidos de Guachupita | Marginalized youth | This is a youth-led peer education and empowerment model with marginalized youth in several of the most underserved and stigmatized barrios of Santo Domingo; where unemployment, drug-use, gangs, and family violence impact young people’s access to healthcare and result in teenage pregnancy and STI’s. |
Centro de Promoción y Solidaridad Humana (CEPROSH) | Migrant sex workers | uses peer education in Creole to target migrant Haitian women engaged in transactional sex and sex work in Puerto Plata. It includes sensitization of duty-bearers such as police and health services to address structural violence and barriers to health services. |
Red Nacional de Jóvenes viviendo con VIH/SIDA(REDNAJCER) | Marginalized youth | This project builds on the findings of the community monitoring system built in Phase I, and will sensitize SAI’s (centers of attention, care and support for PLHIV) about the findings of the Phase I study which showed high levels of perceived and real discrimination towards marginalized youth. |
Fundoreda | Drug users | This project is a drug user-led, needle exchange program targeting both non-injecting and injecting drug users in Santo Domingo. The project also includes sensitization trainings for decision-makers on the structural determinants of drug use and HIV, and highlights barriers for drug-user access to services. |
Este Amor | Men who have sex with men | This is a peer education model with 15-25 year old men who have sex with men in the Eastern Province of the Dominican Republic. The project tries to reach young men who have sex with men with a minimum package of prevention services as they become sexually active. |
Movimiento de Mujeres Unidas (MODEMU) | Sex workers | This is a peer education model reaching non-identifying, home and street-based sex workers in Barahona, one of the poorest provinces of the Dominican Republic. The project provides a minimum package of services for women and transgender sex workers, many of whom experience high levels of gender-based violence. |
COTRAVETD | Trans sex workers | This peer education model aims to increase access to primary and sexual reproductive health care services for transgender women sex workers. |
Name of organization | Target population | Project Summary |
National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) | Drug users | This model integrates peer education and mobile outreach to people who use crack in Kingston, Jamaica. |
Jamaica AIDS Support for Life | Men who have sex with men and sex workers | One of the region’s oldest civil society organizations reaching sex worker and MSM peers, JASL is scaling-up the quality of its interventions with increased training of its peers in sexual health. |
Sex Workers Association of Jamaica | Sex workers | This sex-worker led project aims to provide empowerment and human rights education for sex worker peers and sensitize police officers in Jamaica. |
ASHE | Marginalized youth | This project provides theatre/edutainment interventions and voluntary counseling and testing with youth in Kingston. It has a new social media component for Phase II. |
Stand Up for Jamaica | Men who have sex with men | This new project for Phase II intervenes men who have sex with men in prisons in Kingston. |
Jamaicans for Justice | Marginalized youth | This project delivers sexual reproductive and human rights focused interventions with young people in institutions in Jamaica. It has an advocacy component for structural change. |
