The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) is enrolling more civil society organizations (CSOs) across the region in its Shared Incident Database (SID). SID is the region’s first online database providing a standard system for capturing, collating and reporting cases of human rights violation. The user-friendly online system has strengthened evidence-based advocacy across the region, which has helped to drive improved policies and programmes in the Caribbean’s HIV response.
The latest organization aiming to use SID to make a difference, is the Mocho Police Youth Club. Mocho is a rural community located in the southern part of the parish of Clarendon in Jamaica. Despite the fact that Mocho is a relatively small close-knit farming community it does have its own share of issues, including human rights violations when residents are accessing various services. This is what the Mocho Police Youth Club is trying to address through evidence-based advocacy with data gathered using SID. As part of the onboarding process for new CSOs, CVC recently held a training workshop with key individuals who will be responsible for capturing and inputting data into SID.
Chairman of the Mocho Police Youth Club Al El says joining SID is a pivotal point in the organization’s over three decades of existence. “The organization has been around, in this community, for 36 years and we’ve done a lot of initiatives. We wanted to be a part of SID because of our alignment with the police in the community. The youth club is actually situated in the police station and we see a lot of cases of human rights violations coming through the police station’s doors. If we can use SID to make a difference then that would be good. If we could get people to access services, for example, if you’re traumatized, we can link you to services that can help you get better end results. We can also link people to supportive services which can help to prevent crime,” he said.
The Mocho Police Youth Club Chairman says being a part of SID will also give the organization’s members the tools necessary to empower community members about their human rights. “The benefits, people would be more mindful of their human rights. So what are constitutional rights, what is workplace abuse, what is health violation? With the basics people will know their rights at the bare minimum. If they enter a facility they will know their rights and if it is being breached. At work they’ll know what to do if they are being verbally abused or there is discrimination. So they’ll become more aware of what is happening in their surroundings. Being a part of SID will also help us as a police youth club to be more effective and will help us foster more civic mindedness among our young people so that they can better resolve conflict amongst themselves without becoming violent,” he said.
Meanwhile CVC’s Senior Technical Programme Officer Marlon Thompson, who facilitated the training session, in welcoming Mocho Police Youth Club to SID, said he’s looking forward to the positive impact the collaboration will have on the small rural community. “We’re very excited to have the Mocho Police Youth Club as part of our SID network. This partnership will allow us to serve individuals in deep rural Jamaica, which is a major plus. CSOs operating in rural areas are often underrepresented in human rights advocacy efforts. We aim to address this gap by capturing data specific to these regions, which will help to promote their active participation in human rights advocacy moving forward. The fact that we’ll be able to document these instances of violation, which might have gone unnoticed, will help us to have more diverse data which can in turn drive advocacy that is beneficial for persons who live in rural areas,” he said.
The Shared Incident Database currently has CSOs enrolled in 15 Caribbean countries. These countries are: Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. Other new CSOs across the region will be onboarded in the coming months as CVC seeks to grow the network and improve data driven human rights advocacy.
