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Archive -Seychelles

Teamwork needed for a stronger community |21 February 2014

The Minister for Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports Vincent Meriton has urged all staff of his ministry to work together and collectively for the betterment of the people and their community.

Minister Meriton was speaking at the opening of a workshop yesterday organised by his ministry under the theme ‘Determined for a Better Community’.

The one-day strategic workshop took place at the International Conference Centre.

Addressing staff of his ministry from Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, Minister Meriton spoke of the need for them to relook at their work and re-evaluate their mission and vision where necessary so they can adjust to better reflect the current realities of life.

The minister noted that as Seychelles, its people and population develop, the kind and magnitude of challenges this development brings about become more complex and problems are not centrally located in just one sector but affect the society at large.

Noting that there is no ministry, agency, organisation or individual which has the solution for everything, Minister Meriton said:

“That’s why we have gathered here today. Being the ministry which deals directly with all sectors of the population, we have the responsibility to evaluate our work and detect where we should improve on service delivery, re-position our targets to become more relevant against these current challenges facing us,” said Minister Meriton.

He told staff to bear in mind that they are working on three levels with three groups of people.
 
“The first group consists of our brothers and sisters who have been affected by the process of development and have fallen victims to social ills, like prisoners, drug addicts, to name a few and other people who we need to work with determination and help them see again the bright light of life.  The second group are those at risk of being such victims like our schoolchildren with behavioural problems to name one. The third group, which is the most important, are all of us here and other people out there in the community and the country,” he said.

The minister stressed the need to continue striving for very good service delivery, have a platform where all can come together through sports, leisure, fun activities, voluntary work where people can appreciate one another more.

He said this workshop has been organised “to help us appreciate this necessity of working together by communicating and collaborating more, setting up certain practices which will enable us to better share and manage resources so our interventions become more effective”.

“It is not the appropriate time for us to remain in our own little corner and say what we are doing is perfect. It is important we bear in mind that unity makes strength and we need to work together,” the minister stressed.

Giving some ideas of how his ministry’s members can realise this collective work he was referring to, Minister Meriton said they can use sports as a vehicle to keep the young people away from such social ills as drugs as this social problem also indirectly affects other people or family members who end up looking for assistance at the Agency for Social Protection.
 
Citing communities where there are too many ‘blackspots’ which affect their image, the minister said good practices and living the good values should become a concern for all.

The minister described his ministry as a ‘people’ ministry working for each Seychellois to obtain a better life, where each one of us needs to be more resilient and solid, where each one of us can make families become stronger so they can sustain the basis of our society.

Minister Meriton’s intervention was followed by a slide show on his ministry’s work in photos which showed promoting sports for healthy lifestyle; ensuring social protection for all; promoting voluntarism, meeting the needs of the districts; seeking justice for children and families; professional development just to name a few.

There were also presentations from chief executives and persons responsible for the different divisions and departments of his ministry through which they explained the vision, mission and plans of their departments.

Giovanna Rousseau, chief executive of the National Sports Council, stressed the benefits of sports, urging men mostly to take part more; Dan Frichot, special advisor in the Department of Community Development reminded all present to take ownership of their community just like President James Michel keeps saying; Wallace Cosgrow, the chief executive of the Agency for Social Protection, pointed out that his agency is not a welfare agency but a body that englobes many more aspects than just welfare; Beryl Laboudallon of the Social Affairs Department asked for more support and networking in districts.

During the ceremony, Ms Rousseau handed over to the principal secretary for Community Development and Sports Denis Rose a batch of sports equipment which will be used in districts to involve more people in sports, in line with what Minister Meriton had said earlier about the need to keep young people away from social ills such as drugs.

Launching the value "Respect" for this month under the "Values for One, Values for All' initiative. The ceremony took place at the english River secondary school where both parents and students were urged to live the values in both their schools and homes. Minister Meriton yesterday also reminded the gathering that good values should become a concern for all in their districts

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