Kingston, 3 March 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has said the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry and the University of the West Indies Open Campus on Sexual Harassment Training and Research is an important effort on the part of the Ministry “to give full life to the anti-Sexual Harassment legislation.”

Minister Grange was giving the main address at the signing ceremony for the MOU held at the Regional Headquarters of the UWI on February 28.

It is being implemented through the Ministry’s Bureau of Gender Affairs and the Hugh Shearer Labour Studies Institute (HSLSI) of the UWIOC.

The HSLSI will provide special training through the BGA in such areas as sexual harassment, workplace bullying, emotional intelligence, labour laws, grievance handling and good industrial relations practice.

The BGA will be invited to coordinate the general training programmes conducted by the HSLSI and to ensure participants attendance at forums and lectures.

Minister Grange said: “The main focus of the training will be on prevention. In that regard, we must create the vision of a new Jamaica where respect, tolerance, dignity, and a high self-esteem are seen as the norm for workplace behaviours.
She said the training was important as the Government put in place the legal framework to regulate workplaces to create an environment that is free from sexual harassment. An environment that is governed by comprehensive sexual harassment policies and would ensure immediate and appropriate action to deal with the allegations of sexual harassment when they arise.

“I am confident that this MOU has provided the pathway for us to take a more comprehensive look at what we are facing as a country, and develop our own solutions to overcome the problems,” the Minister said.

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Kingston, 1 October 2018 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced that her Ministry will be getting funding support from UN Women towards the implementation of the National Strategic Action Plan to Eliminate Gender-based Violence.

The Minister made the comment as she signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the UN Women Multi-Country Office of the Caribbean.

The National Strategic Action Plan to Eliminate Gender-based Violence is a ten-year programme of activities — which is being implemented across the whole of government — with specific targets towards eliminating this horrendous crime.  The Plan has a series of actions to prevent violence, protect and deliver adequate services to victims and to deal appropriately with perpetrators.

"It's great that the Ministry now has a partner who is assisting Government in funding these projects," said Minister Grange. "This MOU is going to have a far-reaching impact on the Government's effort to fight gender-based violence."

She explained that under the MOU, UN Women will assist with the development of a public education campaign titled 'No Excuse For Abuse' which will take the anti-violence message to communities across the country.

Minister Grange said: 

"The public education programme that will follow the signing of this MOU will address areas like prevention, protection, investigation and enforcement.  The campaign which speaks to 'No Excuse for Abuse' is a message that is going to be carried far and wide.  We want to get into the communities right across Jamaica.  We will be using Government information bodies such as the JIS and the CPTC but it's going to be an all-media campaign." 

The UN Women Multi-Country Office of the Caribbean Representative, Alison McLean, said the MOU represented a continuation of the agency's collaboration with the Government to eliminate gender-based violence.  UN Women had assisted the Government to develop the National Strategic Action Plan. 

Mrs McLean said:

"In this particular phase we will be working with the Bureau [of Gender Affairs] as project manager and the Ministry along with JIS and CPTC to develop a campaign around gender-based violence using the data we have gleaned from the Women's Health Survey that for the first time gives us definitive data on violence against women (gender-based violence), and its effect on families and communities in Jamaica."

Among other things, the Women's Health Survey found that one in every four women in Jamaica has experienced physical violence by a male partner; that a quarter of women had been sexually abused by men who are not their intimate partners; that one out of every five women reported being sexually abused before reaching 18 years old and that the main perpetrators were family and friends. 

The MOU will be in effect for three years.

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Kingston, September 18, 2018 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says that “Jamaica is strongly focused on establishing a National Register of Cultural Heritage Places and Objects through amendments to the Jamaica National Heritage Act.” 

Minister Grange was addressing the Opening Ceremony of a three-day workshop on Effective Heritage Inventories and National Registers organised by the Ministry in partnership with the Organisation of American States (OAS) at the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites on Tuesday (September 18). 

Minister Grange said that the workshop is an outcome of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the OAS to execute a project titled ‘Enhancing the Framework for the Development of a Heritage Economy in the Caribbean’. The project will train artisans and bring to the forefront the significant socio-economic potential of Jamaica’s cultural heritage. 

“The focus of this workshop is to review and enhance where they already exist, registers of heritage places. A National Register of Heritage Places is a list of sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical value,”

the Minister said. 

According to the Minister, the Registry will be developed through the use of ARCHES, an open-source, geospatially-enabled software platform for cultural heritage inventory and management.

“We hope that this workshop and the software that will be used across the Region will help to build capacity in our culture agencies and provide authentic, heritage experiences that are economically viable and sustainable. 

“Cultural heritage tourism is valued at US$1 billion globally and is said to be responsible for more than 75 million jobs in the Asia Pacific region alone,” Minister Grange said. 

The Culture Minister said also that another main component of the project is its focus on cultural communities such as the Maroons, Rastafari and Revivalists which contribute immensely to brand Jamaica. 

This project is being implemented in Barbados, Jamaica and The Bahamas.

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Kingston, September 27 - The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the Ministry of National Security will be partnering to unearth and develop talent and to upgrade sport infrastructure within institutions falling under the Department of Correctional Services.

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kevin Downswell Ministries, creating a partnership between the two as Downswell promotes his new album ‘All the Way’ across the island.