2016

In March 2016, Jamaica expressed an interest in becoming a Pathfinder via a letter to the Global Partnership by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. On July 12, 2016, the Global Partnership was officially launched at the UN Headquarters in New York. Pathfinder countries are expected to pioneer new approaches to deliver on SDG 16.2 (End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children) and related targets in an effort to ensure that child victims of violence are no longer marginalised by the global development agenda. These countries will have to confront the many factors that leave children vulnerable to violence, provide evidence as to what works and bring together the partners and investment needed to make their societies safer.

A package of programmes and other interventions are to be developed by a multidisciplinary group of experts will reflect the best available evidence of what works to prevent violence. With its acceptance, Jamaica has joined Mexico, Indonesia, Sweden, Tanzania, El Salvador, Paraguay, Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka and Uganda as pathfinder countries.

With being a Pathfinder, the Jamaica has started the revision of Jamaica's National Plan of Action for an Integrated Response to Children and Violence 2018-2023, as well as the Technical Working Group on Children and Violence. The Plan provides for a coordinated and structured approach to addressing key issues and challenges pertaining to children as victims, perpetrators and witnesses of acts of violence and abuse. The goal of the National Plan of Action is to create and maintain a protective environment, supportive of and responsive to the issues of children and violence.