Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 15, 2023 (SKNIS): The Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) in St. Kitts and Nevis will transition and evolve into the Livelihood Improvement for Family Transformation (LIFT) programme. The upgrade, slated for 2024, is a direct response to the need to offer opportunities to genuinely empower beneficiaries, while addressing the numerous anomalies that plagued the Poverty Alleviation Programme [PAP] cash transfer system since it was established in 2018.
The announcement of LIFT was made by Senator and Minister of State responsible for social development, the Honourable Isalean Phillip, while contributing to the 2024 Budget Debate on December 14, 2023.
“Madam Speaker it is a new day, and this is a new administration that is committed to doing things a better way,” she stated.
A key feature of LIFT touted by Senator Phillip is an increase in the amount of support to qualifying households and families. LIFT will utilize best practices from the PAP and Mould, Empower, Nurture, and Direct (MEND) family programme. It will incorporate many improved features to ensure that society’s most vulnerable persons can access assistance. These include clear eligibility criteria for beneficiaries, implementing a strict assessment of the needs of beneficiaries, and monitoring of the impact of the cash transfer programme.
A robust case management system borrowing from the tenets of MEND will be instituted in LIFT. Training in various personal and professional areas will be available through case management.
Borrowing from an adage, Honourable Phillip said that LIFT aims to empower persons.
“It is seeking to lift you out of your poverty or situation by teaching you how to fish as opposed to just giving you the fish. So we will give you the fish to make sure that you can eat but we will also teach you how to fish so that you can feed yourself because we can’t give you the fish forever, that’s just not sustainable,” she expressed.
The minister of state indicated that officials at the Department of Social Services in Nevis will be fully included in planning and consultations for the upcoming change of PAP to LIFT in the new year.
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