Who We are

The Ministry of Social Development and Family Services (MSDFS) is a primary strategic partner with the Government to nurture the society envisaged above. The Ministry must play a critical lead role through supportive social policy; coordination of the social sector and the delivery of essential high-quality social services.

The Ministry’s work is guided by Trinidad and Tobago’s National Development Strategy 2016-2030 (Vision 2030), which advocates for attaining developed country status by the year 2030. The plan proposes five overarching key result area or themes in pursuit of the vision:

• Putting People First: Nurturing Our Greatest Asset;
• Promoting Good Governance and Service Excellence;
• Improving Productivity through Quality Infrastructure and Transportation;
• Building Globally Competitive Business and
• Placing the Environment at the Centre of Socio-economic Development.

The Ministry is the core social sector Ministry with responsibility for coordinating the implementation of Government’s social and human development objectives. The MSDFS is mandated with responsibility for addressing the social challenges of poverty, social inequality and social exclusion. Particular emphasis is placed on developing and executing programmes and services that protect and assist vulnerable and marginalized groups in society such as women, children, persons with disabilities, the elderly, the poor/indigent, the socially displaced, ex-prisoners, deportees and persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Guided by the tenets ‘Helping, Empowering and Transforming Lives’, the Ministry seeks to empower its clientele through rehabilitative and skill enhancement initiatives, which promote human prosperity in the context of sustainable development. The MSDFS is also responsible for developing, coordinating, monitoring and evaluating social sector policies and programmes to ensure sustainability, cultural relevance and economic viability.

The Ministry of Social Development and Family Services seeks to deliver its mandate in alignment with its Vision, Mission and Core Values.

Core Values

Respect – The valuing of people through courteous, caring and unbiased interaction.
Equity– Treating all persons with fairness, and impartiality. Ensuring that the treatment provided conforms to the specific needs of the individual.
Integrity – Adherence to moral and ethical principles. Honesty in all that we do.
Compassion – Developing interconnectedness with clients by having a sympathetic and empathic consciousness of their need together with a desire to alleviate it.
Responsiveness – Continuously anticipating and monitoring society’s ever-changing social issues to develop appropriate social programmes and services.
Innovativeness – Always looking for new approaches/ways of performing and doing things better.
Commitment – Working together, pledging to achieve excellence in the delivery of social services.
Inclusiveness – Providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those having physical or mental disabilities or belonging to other minority groups. 

Motto
Helping, Empowering, Transforming Lives

Roles and Responsibilities
The major roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services are:

• Serving as a central coordinating body for the social sector with respect to the conduct of research, policy and programme planning and development; and monitoring and evaluation;
• Facilitating networking, information and data gathering and dissemination within the social sector and with external agencies;
• Facilitating networking, information and data gathering and dissemination within the social sector and with external agencies;
• Initiating and operationalizing programmes for subsequent hand over to relevant social sector Ministries;
• Developing systems, strategies and programmes to realize positive attitudes and behaviour in the citizenry;
• Identifying gaps and making recommendations for the drafting and amendment of legislation relevant to the sector;
• Fostering peace, harmony and social justice through programmes such as community mediation;
• Fostering good governance through the promotion of participatory development approaches;
• Delivering social services and providing social support for vulnerable groups, towards sustainable enhancement of their well-being.

 

Strategic/Corporate Objectives

The Ministry’s seven (7) Strategic/Corporate Objectives according to its core stakeholder groups are as follows:

1. Poverty Reduction – To reduce the incidence of the poverty in society
2. Persons with Disabilities – To increase the level of participation of persons with disabilities in society toward the realisation of their full potential
3. The Elderly – To sustain and enhance the well-being of all elderly persons
4. Social Displaced – To reduce the number of socially displaced persons
5. Substance Abuse – To reduce substance abuse in the population
6. Research, Policy Monitoring and Evaluation – To develop, monitor and evaluate the policy framework for the effective delivery of social services
7. Organizational Development – To achieve a high performance, customer focused organization that meets its operational and strategic objectives in an efficient and effective way