After completing six weeks of virtual training, fifteen (15) Jamaican health care providers were officially certified as trainers for health first-line respondents on Caring for Women Subjected to Violence. The course, which ended in May 2022, utilized a Training of Trainer competency-based and skills-based curriculum that enabled the development of knowledge and skills in training/facilitation, management of online training, and the provision of comprehensive, high-quality care to women who are subjected to intimate partner violence or sexual violence. 

The course successfully adapted the “Caring for Women Subject to Violence WHO Curriculum for Training Health-Care Providers” to the Jamaican context, created and uploaded virtual training models in the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) of PAHO.

Not only were the healthcare providers equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to assist survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), but they were also charged to train their colleagues in improving health care response and providing necessary support for GBV victims across Jamaica.

Seth Broekman, Deputy Director of the UNFPA SubRegional Office for the Caribbean (SROC), expressed the importance of training programmes such as this to bolster the response of health care providers who come into contact with GBV survivors. “This training that we have embarked upon is one of the initiatives that we hope will help us to provide that kind of support that survivors need.” 

UNFPA, in collaboration with other UN Agencies such as PAHO, UNICEF, and UNAIDS, among others, is leading Pillar 4 of the Spotlight Initiative, which seeks to strengthen the delivery of quality essential services in line with the NSAP-GBV and the Essential Services Package, and with consideration for the Jamaican cultural context. The Spotlight Initiative is funded by the European Union.