WILLEMSTAD - Last Saturday, June 19, the Curaçao Biomedical & Health Research Institute (CBHRI) together with the University of Curaçao, the University of Aruba, the University of Sint Maarten and the University of Utrecht held a webinar to discuss the two-year research project 'Upholding Human Rights in a Pandemic: the Social Impact of COVID-19 Measures on Vulnerable Families (COVIDCAS)'. “This is a unique project in a number of ways,” says Professor Dr. Ashley Duits, principal researcher of the CBHRI. “Apart from the fact that it has never happened before that ZonMw directly finances Caribbean research with local institutes as project owner, it is also special how collaboration between CBHRI, the University of Curaçao, the University of Aruba, the University of Sint Maarten and the University of Utrecht is taking shape.”
The two-hour webinar, led by Dr. Tineke Alberts, Head of the Social Sciences Department at CBHRI, it was explained in more detail what the research entails, how the research will be conducted and who will be part of the research team. The webinar was well attended with participants from Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten, the Netherlands, Anguilla, Trinidad and the United States, and could count on the participation of, among others, Minister Ruthmilda Larmonie (Ministry of Social Development, Labor and Welfare Curaçao) and the Minister President of Sint Maarten Silveria Jacobs.
“We are looking at, from both a human rights and a social perspective, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures linked to it by the government on vulnerable families,” explained Professor Dr. Ajay Bailey (Utrecht University) and Dr. Benedicta Deogratias (University of Aruba) in their presentation. Researchers Dr. Merel Griffith-Lendering and Drs. Elly Hellings then explained that approximately 100 in-depth interviews will be conducted to collect the necessary data. These in-depth interviews are held with four different target groups, spread across Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten: women, migrants and the elderly from low income groups and Red Cross volunteers. In addition, desk research will be performed and focus groups with policy makers and other stakeholders will be organized to validate the results.
“Actually, the research has two goals,” says Dr. Izzy Gerstenbluth (CBHRI). “With the results, we can make recommendations on how the government can better and more effectively reach vulnerable target groups in the event of future disasters and/or epidemics. We also see an important role in realizing capacity development in the field of research on the islands and strengthening collaborative relationships among researchers.” How this capacity development is implemented by the local universities per island was subsequently explained by Dr. Elisabeth Echteld (University of Curaçao), Dr. Antonio Carmona Báez (University of Sint Maarten), Dr. Benedicta Deogratias (University of Aruba), Professor Dr. Ajay Bailey and Dr Ilse van Liempt (both University of Utrecht).
“Doing research is fundamental to the development of a country. As a local university, we want to contribute to high-level scientific data collection in order to meet the needs and inspiration of our society. Limited data is available on our small islands (Small Island Development States/SIDS), although this is a precondition for developing programs and policies specifically aimed at the Caribbean context,” said Dr Antonio Carmona Báez. Under the leadership of sociologist Drs. Raymond Jessurun, two students on Sint Maarten started focus group discussions with the government and social organizations. In Aruba, Dr. Benedicta Deogratias has developed a curriculum to teach Law Faculty students how to examine the human rights situation from different points of view. “A blossoming collaboration with the University of Curaçao, which with its five faculties covers the domains of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the various Research Programs when conducting research, is on the horizon. In this case, for example, sharing expertise in the field of Human Rights is possible (School of Law and the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences) and the UoC is entering into a twinning project, in which students from different faculties are paired with experienced researchers to acquire interviewing skills or strengthen their interviewing skills in a way,” said Dr. Elisabeth Echteld of the University of Curaçao Research Institute (UCRI).
The webinar concluded with a brief historical overview by Dr. J. Elsinga (CBHRI) of previous local projects on infectious disease policies such as Chikungunya and human behavior. This was followed by a question and answer session in which the participants could have their questions answered by the presenters.