The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus St Kitts & Nevis, mindful of the escalating incidence of crime and violence in the Federation, proposed to address the issue by strengthening families in the Federation through the delivery of a programme to train and certify Parenting Facilitators.

To this end the UWI Open Campus St. Kitts & Nevis, in collaboration with Parenting Partners Caribbean (PPT) and the National Council on Technical Vocational and Educational Training (NCTVET) has mounted a Parenting Facilitators course.  The objective is to produce a cadre of trainers who would, in turn, be able to train community based parents and others in proper parenting techniques.  In this way, it is anticipated that the training would spiral out into the farthest reaches of local communities thereby producing more competent parents in every area of the Federation.

The 180-hour programme started on February 9 2009 with a cohort of some 20 persons.  The UWI Open is grateful to the St. Kitts Methodist Churches and the Advancement of Children Foundation for their monetary support of this programme.  Given the high level of interest and the critical need for this kind of training the UWI Open anticipates that there will be additional cohorts for training.

The ACF sponsored 5 of the 20 students to the tune of EC$7500.