By Susan Ewerse

As a Jamaican and ANIDA’s Jamaica Coordinator for nearly a decade, I still find it difficult to tell which children or families are fighting to make ends meet.

In the communities we serve, children live under the same roof and attend the same school—yet some quietly endure poverty.

How do you tell which families are financially stable and which ones urgently need support?

In many areas of Jamaica, well-to-do families often rent a room in their modern homes to poorer families.

In some neighbourhoods, you might see a small zinc house standing between concrete ones and assume everyone is thriving.

Because we want to make the most of our limited resources, careful targeting is key to our work.

We work hand in hand with community leaders and partner with schools to reach the children most in need.

That’s why partnership and community consultation are central to our process—we want to make sure our help truly reaches those who need it most.