The non-profit group Integrated Health Outreach (IHO) has shared their excitement over last week’s Cabinet decision to approve the establishment of a 24-hour shelter in the country.

“Oh, absolute jubilance, excitement, thrill, extreme gratitude and appreciation and so, we’ve been working hard at this, but not just at IHO. I mean, it’s a whole collective of the community of Antigua and Barbuda coming out for the gender-based violence walk in 2024, 2025. We had over 2,000 people come out. So, it’s the voice of the nation. So, extreme jubilance and gratitude,” IHO Executive Director Dr. Nicola Bird shared on state media.

The shelter will be constructed through a partnership with the IHO and the government.

It will be dedicated to victims of gender-based violence.

A move Dr. Bird mentioned is imperative.

“There’s been a need for it for a very, very, very long time and gender-based violence is something that is a global issue. It’s not unique to Antigua and Barbuda. However, the Caribbean has a higher than the global rate for gender-based violence and so, we know it is a serious issue and a serious gap because women and children who are more likely to experience gender-based violence, they don’t have anywhere to go if they’re experiencing it.

“Even if they report it, what happens if they don’t? We assume that there’s family to go to, but that may not necessarily be the case and then as a result, they have to return to the abuser and so, there’s no chance of them escaping the violence. It’s something that we’ve talked about for a very long time,” Dr. Bird said.

Her sentiments were echoed by Jamie Saunders, the Executive Director of the Directorate of Gender Affairs.

“Well, we are definitely very excited about this initiative in terms of the 24-7 shelter. We believe that it’s definitely more than just a structure. It’s going to offer a holistic set of services for survivors of gender-based violence.

“A lot of people look at the shelter as just something in which persons are coming to just seek haven but at the end of the day, in order to truly ensure that persons are able to reintegrate back into society, you need to ensure that they have access to a wide and cross-cutting set of services.

Everything from psycho-social support to being able to learn skills that will enable them  to earn jobs or engage in entrepreneurial activities upon their return to society, as many of the survivors, struggle in terms of their financial and economic autonomy which is one of the reasons why many persons are stuck in abusive situations or feel isolated or devoid of options to get out of those situations,” Sanders stated.

“The shelter is also going to form part of an integrated set of services that we already have, ranging from the support of the referral centre to our social protection services, to health services. So, I think it’s going to bode well for the framework that we already have in place, and it will complement what’s already existing nationally,” he added.

Plans are in the initial stages regarding the services that will be offered but according to Dr. Bird they will focus on supporting all areas of that person’s well-being so that they can be reintegrated into society.

“The plan that we have is phased and so it is starting with a social enterprise and what does that mean ss that one of the problems with shelters is the sustainability, because of course, it demands finances to be able to run a shelter. It’s prohibitive because when you look at, oh my goodness, all this money, and it’s social. So, we are establishing a women’s aggrotech beekeeping farm.

“So, acreage is dedicated to that, so that we can start to generate income, one, to help establish a shelter and to sustain the shelter. At the same time, it provides employment and an opportunity for training for the women. So, we’re seeing it as a complete approach to not just creating a shelter, but sustaining a shelterwhich is the larger picture,” Dr. Bird explained.

The plan is to have the shelter in place in a year’s times.