Minister Launches the Umbono System to Address Gender-Based Violence

January 22nd, 2025

Minister Launches the Umbono System to Address Gender-Based Violence NL229
Present at the Launch of the Central Registry on Gender-Based Violence’s Umbono System on Wednesday 8th January 2025 includes (L-R) Mr. Nicholas Brodber, First Secretary, High Commission of Jamaica; His Excellency Peter Cavendish, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Delegation of the European Union; Mr. Kurt Meyer, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister – Gender and Child Affairs (OPM-GCA); The Honourable Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister – Central Administrative Services Tobago, Gender and Child Affairs, and the National AIDS Coordinating Committee; Mr. Vijay Gangapersad, Permanent Secretary (Ag.), OPM-GCA; Her Excellency Sonya Koppe, High Commissioner, Australian High Commission; and Mr. Stuart Shaw, Counsellor, High Commission of Canada.

“If we want to really target our social issues at the core, we must have current, relevant data, and to be able to overlook the entire continuum of care of our clients.” 

This was the assertion of the Honourable Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister – Central Administrative Services Tobago (CAST), Gender and Child Affairs (GCA), and the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) during the Launch of the Central Registry on Gender-Based Violence’s Umbono System on Wednesday 8th January 2025. 

As Trinidad and Tobago continues to implement the National Strategic Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Sexual Violence, the Central Registry on Gender-Based Violence is a critical tool for collating and maintaining current local statistics. The Umbono System, developed in-house by the GCA’s Information and Communications Technology staff, marks a significant transition from a basic registry to a comprehensive system with advanced client management capabilities. 

The Honourable Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister - Central Administrative Services Tobago (CAST), Gender and Child Affairs (GCA), and the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC), and Mr. Kurt Meyer, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister (Gender and Child Affairs), engaged with the audience during a questions and answers session during the Launch of the Central Registry on Gender-Based Violence's Umbono System on Wednesday 8th January 2025.
The Honourable Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister – Central Administrative Services Tobago (CAST), Gender and Child Affairs (GCA), and the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC), and Mr. Kurt Meyer, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister (Gender and Child Affairs), engaged with the audience during a questions and answers session during the Launch of the Central Registry on Gender-Based Violence’s Umbono System on Wednesday 8th January 2025.

Minister Webster-Roy noted that ‘the Umbono System emerges as a key innovation, bolstering our policy development and service delivery in line with our national goals. This evolution allows us to reduce the re-traumatising of clients when referred from organisation to organisation, and oversee the entire care continuum as we guide victims of GBV or DV from distress to a state of improved well-being. 

Mr. Kurt Meyer, Permanent Secretary, OPM-GCA, presented the current national landscape that fuelled the need for innovation and the system’s capabilities. The Umbono system will manage the family unit’s transition from entering a DV shelter, recording their journey and referring them to various organisations.

“If we want to really target our social issues at the core, we must have current, relevant data, and to be able to overlook the entire continuum of care of our clients.” This was the assertion of the Honourable Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister - Central Administrative Services Tobago (CAST), Gender and Child Affairs (GCA), and the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) during the Launch of the Central Registry on Gender-Based Violence’s Umbono System on Wednesday 8th January 2025. 
“If we want to really target our social issues at the core, we must have current, relevant data, and to be able to overlook the entire continuum of care of our clients.” This was the assertion of the Honourable Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister – Central Administrative Services Tobago (CAST), Gender and Child Affairs (GCA), and the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) during the Launch of the Central Registry on Gender-Based Violence’s Umbono System on Wednesday 8th January 2025. 

Minister Webster-Roy emphasised that the system’s success hinges on collaboration among all service delivery agencies, including the Ministries of National Security, Health and Social Development and Family Services, shelters, and relevant civil society organisations. While the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Domestic Violence Shelter are the system’s current users, GCA will host sensitisation and training sessions during 2025 to get other stakeholders and users on board. 

The GCA looks forward to the cohesion of public, private, and civil society sectors to address gender-based and domestic violence in Trinidad and Tobago. 

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