分类： society

Agriculture Minister reacts as egg shortage hits Saint Lucia

A persistent egg shortage that has left supermarket shelves across Saint Lucia empty for more than a month has spurred the country’s top agriculture official to call for stronger alignment and communication between the Ministry of Agriculture and local poultry producers. Speaking to reporters outside the country’s parliament on Tuesday, August 11, Agriculture Minister Lisa Jawahir publicly acknowledged the ongoing supply crunch, confirming that the ministry only reached out to egg producers after the shortage began to escalate. By the time government officials initiated contact, a number of farmers had already completed their scheduled flock replacement, a routine operational step that triggered an unexpected drop in domestic egg output that continues to impact consumers.

In the wake of the disruption, Jawahir emphasized that the current crisis highlights a critical gap in collaboration that must be addressed as Saint Lucia pursues its long-term goal of expanding domestic food production and achieving national food self-sufficiency. When asked what policy and procedural changes would prevent similar shortages from occurring in the future, the minister pointed to consistent, open dialogue between producers and government stakeholders as the foundational solution. “We have to build closer, more transparent working relationships between the farming community and the ministry,” she noted, framing improved coordination as central to advancing the country’s food sector expansion agenda.

Jawahir also made clear that the government of Saint Lucia has no intention of entering commercial egg production or investing directly in state-run hatcheries, noting that a robust community of large-scale private farmers already operates in the sector. Instead, she reaffirmed that the government’s core role is to create supportive policy frameworks for the agricultural industry and provide targeted assistance to producers when challenges arise.

One key policy priority the ministry will move forward with in response to the shortage is expanding farmer registration, Jawahir revealed. Currently, a large share of the country’s egg producers are not formally registered with the Ministry of Agriculture, a gap that leaves the government unable to quickly coordinate support during supply disruptions or connect unregistered producers with existing sector incentives. The minister encouraged both active and aspiring poultry farmers to engage with the ministry’s extension officers and technical staff, who can guide producers through the registration process.

Formal registration unlocks tangible benefits for farmers, Jawahir explained, including access to government subsidies, tax concessions, and other agricultural incentives that are only available to formally registered producers. The minister also clarified that there is no current government policy restricting farmers from selling eggs directly to supermarkets or other private distributors, noting that commercial agreements, quality standards, and inspection requirements are negotiated directly between producers and retailers. Registration becomes particularly critical during large-scale industry disruptions, she stressed, as government support will only be extended to producers that are formally documented with the ministry in the event of a widespread crisis.

11 8 月, 2026
Residents Urged to Report Blocked or Restricted Public Beach Access

In a push to preserve the island nation’s long-held commitment to open coastal access, the Development Control Authority (DCA), operating under Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Social and Urban Transformation, has launched a public appeal asking local residents to step forward and report any instances of unlawful barriers blocking public access to the country’s beaches.

The authority has made clear that all beaches across Antigua and Barbuda are legally designated as public spaces, and the right of all people to access these coastal areas without obstruction is a core principle that must be actively protected. Unauthorized restrictions on this public access run counter to national regulations governing coastal land use, the DCA emphasized.

Under the appeal, residents who spot unauthorized infrastructure including gates, permanent fencing, temporary barriers, or any other man-made structures that cut off established public pathways to the shore are being encouraged to file reports with the DCA. Each submission will trigger a formal investigation into whether the restriction violates existing land development and access rules.

In its public statement, the DCA also reminded private developers and coastal landowners that long-term, uninterrupted public use of a beach access route can formalize a legal right of way under local regulations. Any new coastal development project is required to preserve or construct adequate public access points in line with legal requirements, the authority added.

11 8 月, 2026
Pomona Farmer Shot by Police Wants to Know Why

On a quiet Thursday resting on his Pomona cattle farm, a 46-year-old former soldier’s routine was upended by a violent encounter that left him wounded, his beloved guard dog dead, and still no explanation for what prompted the incident more than a week later, according to the farmer’s first public account of the confrontation.

The farmer told reporters he was napping near an equipment shed when his constant companion – his working guard dog – began barking frantically to alert him of approaching strangers. When he jumped to his feet, he found three men with weapons drawn, all pointing their guns directly at him and shouting for him to raise his hands. What made the situation terrifying, he recalled, was that none of the men wore uniforms, displayed police badges, or identified themselves as law enforcement before issuing commands. For the farmer, the scenario matched a classic armed farm robbery, a risk that many rural property owners prepare for.

Drawing on his military training, the farmer quickly assessed his options. He carried a licensed personal firearm in his pocket, but with three armed assailants already aiming at him, he judged that drawing his weapon immediately would guarantee fatal consequences. He chose to run for safety, with the decision rooted in pure self-preservation: he resolved to only return fire if he was first struck, a choice he says saved his life.

As he ran, the armed men opened fire, and a bullet struck the farmer, knocking him to the ground. Following his pre-planned reaction, he pulled out his licensed weapon and returned fire toward the men. The exchange of gunfire forced the three unidentified men to retreat, the farmer says. Only after the shooting stopped did one of the men finally approach and reveal he was a police officer.

“I want justice – this is completely unfair,” the farmer stated in his account of the encounter. “I told the officer who approached me not to come near me: he was the one who shot me.”

To date, the farmer says law enforcement has not offered any explanation for why officers arrived at his property with weapons drawn that day, nor have they clarified what operation they were conducting that led to the confrontation. The tragedy also extends beyond the farmer’s injury: his dog, who first alerted him to the approaching men and stayed by his side through all his daily work on the farm, was killed in the police gunfire.

The case has highlighted ongoing concerns about the risks of unmarked plainclothes police operations in rural areas, where property owners often prepare for criminal robbery and may have no way to distinguish armed intruders from undercovered law enforcement in the moments before a confrontation.

11 8 月, 2026
Stop Feeding Crocodiles, FD Warns After Caye Caulker Incident.

In the wake of a recent close call between humans and crocodiles on Caye Caulker, Belize’s Forest Department has put out a critical public appeal, urging both local residents and visiting tourists to avoid feeding, approaching, or engaging directly with the region’s native crocodile populations. The advisory follows a growing stream of public reports and viral social media content documenting increasingly frequent close encounters between people and the large reptiles across the coastal nation.

Though the Caye Caulker incident did not result in any physical contact or human injuries, wildlife authorities stress it serves as a vital wake-up call about the urgent need for responsible behavior in shared crocodile habitats. Department officials partnered with two regional wildlife organizations — ACES Wildlife Rescue and the Crocodile Research Coalition — to release the updated guidelines, emphasizing that complacency around crocodiles can quickly lead to life-threatening outcomes.

Crocodiles are an indigenous species to Belize, naturally thriving in the country’s extensive network of mangroves, coastal lagoons, freshwater wetlands, river systems, and nearshore coastal zones. But as residential and tourism development expands into these traditional crocodile territories, human-wildlife overlap has grown dramatically. Officials have noted a sharp uptick in not just encounters, but in intentional feeding and luring of crocodiles by people — a dangerous practice that authorities say must stop entirely.

Even occasional or indirect feeding triggers long-term shifts in crocodile behavior, experts explain. Over time, the reptiles learn to associate human presence with a source of food, erasing their natural wariness of people and drastically increasing the likelihood of aggressive, dangerous interactions in the future. Instead of engaging with crocodiles, the public is encouraged to practice ethical, low-impact wildlife viewing that prioritizes maintaining a safe, respectful distance from the animals in their native environment.

The Forest Department has outlined clear, actionable rules for the public to follow to reduce risk: never feed, touch, or provoke a crocodile, and never attempt to capture, handle, or relocate a crocodile on your own. People are strongly advised to avoid swimming after dark or swimming in mangrove zones that are known crocodile habitats, and to always supervise children and keep pets leashed and well back from the water’s edge in these areas. Local residents and tourism-related businesses are also asked to keep coastal waterways clear of food waste, fish scraps, and other organic debris that could attract crocodiles to populated shorelines. For any crocodile displaying unusual or threatening behavior, the public is instructed to contact authorities to file a report rather than attempting to intervene directly.

11 8 月, 2026
Landelijk onderzoek bevestigt dominante positie sociale media in Suriname

A landmark nationally representative survey has confirmed what many observers have suspected: social media has become the overwhelmingly dominant media platform in Suriname, reshaping how the country’s population accesses information and interacts with content. The 2024 Landelijk Perceptieonderzoek Suriname 3.0, carried out by the Suriname Institute for Research and Documentation (NIKOS), finds that 69% of the country’s adult population identifies social media as their most frequently used media platform — more than double the combined share of all traditional media: television, radio, and print newspapers.

What sets this research apart is its rigorous methodological design, which allows it to claim representative insight into Surinamese media habits. Between June 25 and July 21, researchers surveyed 1,786 Surinamese adults aged 18 and older, selected via random sampling from the country’s 2025 voter registry. Fieldwork was conducted across 49 administrative ressorten spread across nine of Suriname’s ten districts, with only the remote inland district of Sipaliwini excluded from data collection. Researchers note that the random sampling approach ensures the findings accurately reflect the attitudes and behavior of the broader Surinamese population.

Breaking down the data by age groups reveals a stark generational divide in media use. Among adults aged 18 to 39, dominance of social media is nearly complete: 88% name it as their most used medium, with television capturing just 7%, radio 4%, and print newspapers a mere 1% of this demographic. Even among the middle-aged cohort of 40 to 59-year-olds, social media retains a strong lead, with 72% identifying it as their primary platform, compared to 15% for television, 9% for radio, and 3% for print.

The media landscape looks far different for Suriname’s oldest adult population, those aged 60 and above. Even here, social media holds a tied first place at 34%, matching the share of television. Radio remains relevant for 23% of this age group, while 8% still name print newspapers as their most used medium. This split means Suriname effectively hosts two distinct media ecosystems within one society: a digital-first ecosystem for younger citizens that centers almost entirely on social platforms, and a more diversified landscape for older citizens that retains a large role for traditional broadcast and print media.

Among traditional media, television retains the strongest position nationwide, ranking second overall with 17% of adults naming it their primary medium. Radio, once the leading medium in Suriname, now holds just a 10% share nationwide, though it remains important for older audiences. Print newspapers have seen the steepest decline: just 4% of all adults, and only 1% of young adults, name it as their most used medium, with the share rising only to 8% among adults over 60.

Importantly, researchers emphasize that the findings do not mean 69% of Surinamese exclusively consume news via social media. The survey question specifically asked which medium respondents use most often, not which they use at all. The data therefore cannot be read as direct market share for news outlets, nor as evidence that traditional media are no longer used by most of the population.

The survey’s results carry major implications for Suriname’s news organizations and journalism industry. The shift confirms that reaching younger audiences is now overwhelmingly dependent on distribution through social platforms. While the core journalistic mission of providing verified, balanced, and reliable news remains unchanged, the pathway through which news reaches the public has fundamentally shifted. News outlets now face the critical challenge of maintaining a visible presence on the social platforms where their audience already engages, without sacrificing core journalistic standards of accuracy and verification to prioritize speed and broader reach.

At the same time, the data makes clear that traditional media cannot be written off entirely. Television and radio remain critical sources of information for older population segments, meaning a media strategy that focuses exclusively on either digital or traditional platforms will fail to serve large swathes of Surinamese society. The study lays bare a fundamental transformation of the country’s media landscape: the competition for audience attention in Suriname is increasingly fought on digital terrain. For Suriname’s journalism sector, the central question is no longer whether social media needs to be part of news provision, but how journalistic organizations can remain visible and relevant on these platforms without eroding the public trust that comes from reliable, ethical reporting.

11 8 月, 2026
Dominica adds its voice to global Indigenous Peoples Day celebration

Earlier this week, the Caribbean island nation of Dominica joined Indigenous communities across the globe to observe the United Nations International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, marked annually on August 9. First formally adopted by the UN in 1994, the observance commemorates the inaugural 1982 meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, convened in Geneva under the former Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

For Dominica, this annual commemoration carries unique national meaning: the Kalinago people, the island’s largest Indigenous group with approximately 3,000 members concentrated along Dominica’s eastern coast, remain a vibrant, living community whose identity continues to shape the nation’s present and future trajectory. In his official address marking the occasion, Cozier Frederick, Dominica’s Minister for Kalinago Upliftment, centered the 2025 UN theme *“Honouring Indigenous Midwives: Safeguarding Life and Well-being”* to celebrate the intergenerational legacy of Indigenous women who have sustained Kalinago culture and community through their work.

Frederick emphasized that Kalinago midwifery has never been limited to clinical healthcare. For generations, these women have blended ancient traditional knowledge with evolving modern medical practices, serving mothers in private homes, community health clinics, and hospital settings alike. Their work, he argued, underpins cultural continuity, community cohesion, and collective survival, bridging generations by welcoming new Kalinago people into the world and passing down ancestral identity alongside care.

In a moving portion of his address, Frederick publicly named six distinguished Kalinago midwives whose decades of service have shaped the community: Bernadette John Frederick, Bernadette Sanderson, Doreen Ettienne, Sylvie Paris-Warrington, Winnie Joseph, and Porshia Burton. The tribute carried deep personal meaning for the minister: Bernadette John Frederick, the first name on the list, is his grandmother, and the midwife who delivered him into the world. “That is a debt no public office can ever repay,” Frederick noted, tying his own life story directly to the legacy he honored.

Beyond remembrance, Frederick stressed that symbolic celebration of Indigenous heritage must be paired with concrete action to advance Indigenous rights, protect cultural diversity, and safeguard traditional knowledge. He outlined the Ministry of Kalinago Upliftment’s ongoing core commitments: preserving the Kalinago language and cultural traditions, expanding inclusive economic opportunities for the community, building local climate resilience, and empowering younger generations of Kalinago to lead their community’s future.

A core argument of Frederick’s address pushed back against common framing of Indigenous knowledge as a relic of the past. He noted that ancestral ecological and communal wisdom offers critical, underutilized insights for addressing modern global challenges, most notably climate change, and building more equitable, sustainable futures for all communities. “When an Indigenous language disappears, humanity loses a language. When traditional knowledge disappears, humanity loses knowledge,” he said, emphasizing that protecting Indigenous heritage is not a parochial concern for individual communities—it is a global responsibility that benefits all of humanity.

Global UN data underscores the widespread impact of Indigenous cultures: Indigenous peoples make up roughly 5% of the global population (around 476 million people), represent more than 5,000 distinct cultures, and speak the majority of the world’s 7,000 existing languages. Closing his address, Frederick called on Kalinago community members and Indigenous peoples worldwide to continue stewarding their heritage, strengthening their communities, and carrying their stories forward for future generations, affirming: “We are still here. And we will continue to be here. We will continue to remember. We will continue to protect. We will continue to build. And we will continue to tell our stories.”

11 8 月, 2026
Eleuthera father dies in Haiti boating tragedy

A routine family getaway to Haiti has turned into an unthinkable tragedy for a Bahamian community, after a 39-year-old father of three from Eleuthera died in a boating accident just four days into the trip. As Andre Dean’s family waits for clear answers from Haitian law enforcement about the exact circumstances of his death, they are pushing back hard against damaging online rumors that falsely linked his passing to violence and drug trafficking.

According to Dean’s sister, Kenva Neely, who spoke to The Tribune from Haiti, Dean traveled to the Caribbean nation last week alongside Neely and their mother to visit family on his stepfather’s side. This trip marked Dean’s second visit to Haiti, after he fell in love with the country during his first stay. Neely shared that her brother had reflected deeply on the privileged life his three young children – aged two, 10, and 16 – enjoy back in The Bahamas, telling his family he wanted his kids to learn gratitude for their comfortable lives after seeing the conditions local children navigate in Haiti.

Dean’s wife and three children remained in The Bahamas for the trip, a choice that leaves them now grieving from thousands of miles away as the family works to bring Dean’s body home. Neely explained that Dean told relatives he planned to go boating with local friends on Sunday evening, though she was not present for that conversation. Though weather conditions were rough that day, Neely said her brother believed the journey would be safe. When Dean failed to return by Monday morning, the family immediately launched a search effort led by their stepfather and other local relatives. By Monday evening, their search ended in grief when Dean’s body was recovered from the waters off Port-de-Paix, in northwestern Haiti, alongside the bodies of other people who had been on the boat.

In the wake of Dean’s death, unfounded rumors spread rapidly across social media, claiming Dean had been shot, killed in a violent incident, or was involved in drug activity. Neely has forcefully refuted all these claims, noting that she personally saw Dean’s body and confirmed he had no gunshot wounds or signs of foul play. The family’s working belief is that Dean drowned in the accident, with only a small bruise on his head consistent with hitting a rock or reef during the capsizing. Neely said the cruel online speculation has left her mother in tears, emphasizing that Dean traveled to Haiti solely for a family vacation, drawn back by his affection for the country.

Described by Neely as a joyful, ambitious, and deeply family-oriented man, Dean worked as a self-employed construction worker and had recently finished building a new home with his wife, who is originally from Abaco. In the days before the trip, he had taken his own children to the beach to build sandcastles and share quality time, always focused on earning enough to give his family a stable, comfortable life.

As of Tuesday, the family was still attempting to arrange their return to The Bahamas, but told reporters all available flights were fully booked. They will continue coordinating with Haitian authorities to process Dean’s death and facilitate the repatriation of his body. Bahamian officials have also stepped in to support the family: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that embassy staff will maintain constant contact with both Dean’s relatives and Haitian law enforcement as the investigation moves forward. Local political representative North Eleuthera MP Sylvanus Petty was among the dozens of people who shared public condolences for the family following news of Dean’s death, in an outpouring of support that has spread across Bahamian social media.

11 8 月, 2026
Power outages forces Supreme Court closure

A weeks-long downtown power outage in Nassau has triggered an unprecedented disruption to the Bahamas’ judicial system, forcing the Supreme Court to shut its doors entirely and drawing sharp criticism from the country’s top legal body over persistent infrastructure failures and poor public communication.

What began as a localized power interruption on Friday afternoon rapidly escalated into a full-blown crisis for the judiciary. According to a senior court official, Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) provided no advance or ongoing updates about the outage after power cut out around 4pm Friday. Left with no information about when service would resume, court administrators opted to keep the facility’s backup generators running nonstop through the weekend, assuming the issue would be resolved quickly. By Monday morning, the generators had completely exhausted their fuel supply.

After officials paid out of pocket for emergency refueling—an unbudgeted expense not accounted for in the judiciary’s annual operating plan—one of the court’s primary generator units suffered permanent damage to its seals from the continuous operation. The unit repeatedly failed on Monday, forcing court administrators to order a full shutdown of the Supreme Court while technicians waited for the system to cool to complete repairs.

The closure has upended a tightly scheduled judicial calendar, where most hearing dates are locked in six to 12 months in advance. For the Bahamas Bar Association, the disruption amounts to a direct attack on citizens’ constitutional rights to timely justice. In a scathing statement, the association condemned both BPL and relevant government authorities for their failure to maintain consistent communication with the judiciary throughout the outage.

“When the doors of the Courts cannot open, the rights of citizens to be heard, to have their liberty preserved or vindicated, and to have their disputes resolved in a timely manner are placed in jeopardy,” the association said, adding that the lack of advance warning left the judiciary unable to put contingency plans in place, leaving litigants, witnesses, and legal professionals stranded without information. “This is unacceptable.”

Attorney General Wayne Munroe acknowledged that any loss of court time poses a significant concern for the justice system, though he noted that backup generators are not designed to operate 24 hours a day continuously. “Anything that causes loss of any court time clearly is something that is not useful,” he said.

The outage’s ripple effects extended far beyond the Supreme Court. The nearby Industrial Tribunal also lost power on Monday, with a senior official confirming that the outage brought all proceedings to a halt. Without electricity, the tribunal could not operate its computers, cooling systems, or even running water. The official added that the facility has struggled with longstanding infrastructure issues, including an elevator that has been out of service for months, persistent mould growth, and extreme overheating during summer months. Despite these challenges, the official stressed that the tribunal has no backlog of cases and has stayed ahead of its scheduling.

Downtown businesses have also absorbed thousands of dollars in unexpected costs to stay operational. Allen Williams, manager of the popular downtown eatery Cafe Matisse, told reporters that his establishment has kept its generator running nonstop since Friday afternoon to preserve thousands of dollars worth of perishable food inventory. He estimated the business has already spent around $1,000 on extra fuel, and like court officials, he received no direct updates from BPL about the outage or restoration timeline. “Long as they down, we burning fuel,” Williams said. “Very expensive.”

In a statement released Monday, BPL blamed the Bank Lane area outage on a cable fault near Rawson Square that was identified by Bahamas Grid Company (BGC) technicians around 2:30am Tuesday. The utility said crews from BPL and BGC were working together to complete repairs and expected power to be fully restored by 1am Wednesday. However, the statement did not address the loss of power reported by multiple downtown stakeholders that began as early as Friday afternoon.

The outage is the latest in a string of high-profile failures for BPL that have rocked the Bahamas this summer. Less than two weeks ago, a transformer explosion at Blue Hills triggered a seven-hour-long island-wide blackout across New Providence, affecting most residents on the island. Just days later, western New Providence communities endured five consecutive days of rolling outages, forcing some residents to sleep in their cars for cool air, throw out entire refrigerators full of spoiled food, and spend hundreds of dollars on generator fuel. Outages have continued in recent days and spread to some of the country’s Family Islands as well.
BPL has attributed the recent spate of outages to a combination of factors, including physical cable faults, overloaded transformers, tripped feeders and breakers, damaged power lines, small infrastructure fires, and unusually high summer energy demand that has pushed the grid beyond its designed capacity. Last week, BPL Chief Operating Officer Anthony Christie acknowledged that the country’s power grid is under severe strain, with many key circuits and transformers operating at or near maximum capacity.

In a separate clarification, Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles noted that the ongoing closure of sections of Central Police Station is unrelated to the power outage, and is instead the result of planned extensive renovations. Members of the public seeking to file police reports during the renovations are directed to use facilities at the Tourism Police Unit on Parliament Street and the downtown wharf.

11 8 月, 2026
Homeowner Seeks Help Identifying Man Caught on Camera During Break-In Attempt

A residential property owner in Antigua is reaching out to the wider community for assistance after their home security system captured footage of a man allegedly attempting to gain unlawful entry to their property in the early hours of Tuesday, August 11, 2026. According to a statement the homeowner submitted to local media outlet Antigua.news, the suspicious incident unfolded at roughly 1:15 a.m. at their residence. After reviewing the surveillance recording, the homeowner has made the clip public with the goal that a member of the public will recognize the individual shown on camera. In addition to requesting identification help, the resident has issued a warning to people living in the nearby Greenbay and Gray’s Farm neighborhoods, urging local residents to heighten their personal and property security awareness and keep an eye out for anyone matching the suspect’s description. Local law enforcement has not yet released an official statement on the alleged attempt as of press time, but the homeowner has noted that anyone with information can choose to either reach out to them directly or pass along any relevant details to the Antigua Police Force. The full unedited surveillance footage has been posted in the comment section of the media report to allow members of the public to view the clip for themselves.

11 8 月, 2026
Girlhood summer leadership bootcamp equips Dominican girls with skills for leadership and life

After three weeks of immersive, skill-building programming, Dominica’s I Have A Right Foundation (IHARF) has successfully concluded its 2026 Girlhood Summer Leadership Bootcamp, a targeted initiative designed to boost adolescent girls’ confidence, expand their knowledge base, and nurture the leadership skills that will drive progress across the island nation.

As a rights-focused non-profit, IHARF centers its core mission on youth empowerment, grassroots advocacy, accessible education, and holistic personal growth. The organization works to build inclusive, supportive environments where young people can gain the practical tools they need to emerge as active, impactful contributors to national development, explained IHARF Programme Manager Lucien Alexander.

Running from July 20 through August 9, this year’s bootcamp rejected the structure of a traditional recreational summer camp in favor of a deep, hands-on developmental experience tailored to the unique needs of adolescent girls. The curriculum covered a far-reaching range of topics spanning every area of personal and professional growth, from individual wellbeing and healthy relationships to educational advancement, long-term career planning, and community leadership.

Throughout the program, participants explored critical life skills including self-awareness, emotional intelligence, mental health maintenance, value alignment, sexual and reproductive health rights, basic first aid, and personal safety. They also built core interpersonal competencies, learning how to practice empathy, communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, and negotiate mutually beneficial outcomes. Sessions focused on future readiness introduced girls to evidence-based goal-setting frameworks, time management strategies, foundational financial literacy, basic entrepreneurship principles, and structured career development planning. Digital citizenship modules addressed responsible online behavior, digital literacy for everyday life, and the evolving impact of artificial technology on daily and professional life. The final segment of the bootcamp centered specifically on leadership development, team collaboration, advocacy skills, and empowerment, encouraging each participant to identify and cultivate their innate leadership potential.

Hands-on, active participation was the cornerstone of the bootcamp’s learning model. Girls developed skills through collaborative team-building challenges, interactive role-playing activities, facilitated group discussions, creative expression projects, vision boarding exercises, hands-on leadership challenges, public speaking practice, and guided reflection sessions. The initiative was supported by a diverse team of IHARF staff, trained volunteers, student interns, and industry professionals who shared their specialized expertise with participants, including Dr. Zoriah Telemaque, Beverly Leblanc, Marilyn Cuffy-Morris, Sergeant Urias Moses, Nichola James-Charles, Shirnon Telemaque, and Luana Laurent.

The 2026 bootcamp concluded with a formal closing ceremony and family engagement session, where participants showcased the skills and knowledge they had gained over the three weeks and received formal recognition for their growth and progress. The event also included dedicated guidance for attending parents and guardians, covering key topics around adolescent developmental milestones, teen mental wellness, and the critical role of family support during the transitional teenage years.

Alexander noted that the entire program was built around a core belief: young people do not need to wait until adulthood or hold formal positions of power to step into leadership roles. From the first session, participants were encouraged to recognize that they can drive meaningful positive change in their families, schools, and local communities starting at their current age.

Looking ahead, IHARF confirmed that it will continue expanding investment in initiatives like the Girlhood Summer Leadership Bootcamp to nurture generations of confident, informed, socially conscious young women across Dominica. The organization remains committed to helping girls shape self-determined futures while making lasting, meaningful contributions to the ongoing development of the island nation.

11 8 月, 2026