Participants of Child Protection Workshop Receive Certificates

By:Curtis Morton
Ten participants of a child protection workshop which was held in 2016, received certificates on Wednesday 8th February.
The workshop was held in 2016 and was jointly hosted by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and UNICEF and was sponsored by Scotia Bank.
The ceremony was held at the Sports Department board room, in Charlestown and was ably chaired by Leeward Islands Territorial development Officer, Mr. Junie Mitcham.
In his brief opening remarks, Mitcham stated that the workshop was one of the chief prerequisites by the WICB, for entry to its coaching education program, for the foundation level one and two coaching courses. The four prerequisites are:
• Child protection certificate
• Fair play initiative
• First aid certificate
• Clear Police record
He noted that coaching education is of paramount importance to the development of West Indies Cricket.
He indicated that the participants were trained on the subject of abuse and how to deal with incidents of abuse.
The workshop was sponsored by Scotia bank and he asked for a special round of applause for the contributions of the Banking institution.
He encouraged the participants to make use of their newly found information for the benefit of the children they coach.
Mr. Denrick Liburd, President of the Nevis Cricket Association, stated that it was a pleasure to represent the NCA; LICA and the WICB by extension.
He appealed to the participants to continue to develop and to learn more.
He opined that children form the bench strength in the region for our Cricket to grow, so their protection is critical.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Social Development, Mr. Keith Glasgow indicated that children are a special and vulnerable group, and based on that fact, teachers and coaches need to make the environment in which they train, to be conducive to their development.
He further stated that the participants need to be familiar with educational psychology-how children learn
He commended all of the stakeholders who were involved in making the training possible—WICB, UNCEF, Scotia Bank and the Ministry of Social Development.
He also encouraged the coaches to ensure that what they would have learnt, is put into practice.
He warned them that they not only need to protect the children but to also protect themselves as well.
‘Stay within the law’, he admonished.
Mrs. Aneka Jeffers, the Scotia Bank representative, presented the certificates to the deserving participants