The Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs and the Bureau of Gender Affairs continue to promote a zero-tolerance approach to domestic violence and gender-based violence in general. Therefore, the Ministry through the Bureau continues to develop and promote initiatives that seek to sensitize and create awareness of gender-based violence.

• • The Partnership for Peace Programme which was started in 2012 and administered then by the Administrative Section in the Ministry, was moved to the Bureau last year. The programme was relaunched in 2022 by UN Women. Having successfully completed the 16th cohort in January 2024, the Bureau will set its goal on having two cohorts within the new financial year.
  • The Ministry firmly believes that the fight to end gender-based violence must include our youth at an early age. The Ministry through the Bureau has launched a Bench Project which seeks to sensitise and create awareness of gender-based violence through the donation of picnic benches branded with messages that denounce gender-based violence, to several schools such as The Lester Vaughan School, St. George Secondary School and Graydon Sealy Secondary School.
  • The Bureau will continue to work with the Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence. The Bureau is cognisant of the need to create alternative and new strategies to boost awareness of and sensitization to gender based violence. In December 2024, the Bureau staged a cultural production ‘Arts for Activism’ in collaboration with the Institute for Gender and Development Studies and the Canadian High Commission around gender-based violence with technical and financial assistance from other partners/ stakeholders.
  • The Bureau, in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General convened the ‘National Consultation on Domestic Violence in Barbados’ in March 2025. This information-sharing initiative was a precursor to proposed regional and international consultations aimed to reduce incidences of domestic / family violence and its negative impacts on all areas of society.
  • The National Committee on Gender-based Violence is expected to review already established National Action Plans to draw on diverse experiences and suggest new, apt approaches suitable to the needs and realities of Barbados. In this accord, the Committee is tasked with developing strategies specifically geared towards reducing incidences of GBV, implementing a public education programme, increasing State Actor competencies and strengthen accountability.

The Bureau remains concerned about the high incidences of health concerns among men. Having staged three successful Men’s Health Fairs for International Men’s Day in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively, the Bureau has made this activity an annual affair. In this regard the Bureau intends to work closely with the HIV/AIDS Well Being Commission to develop a more holistic and varied approach to men’s health that supplements the staging of such an event.