THE Women’s Leadership Initiative’s (WLI) funding of a degreed special education teacher at the Voluntary Organisation for the Upliftment of Children (VOUCH) has earned the institution the distinction of being the only basic school of its kind with a structured special education programme to cater to children with developmental challenges.

According to Sharon Lake, chair of the WLI, the organisation is seeking to expand the programme at the Sylvia Foote Basic School at VOUCH, which caters to students from several underserved communities in downtown Kingston.

Noting that the WLI has from the inception supported VOUCH, financing infrastructural and personnel upgrades for the Sylvia Foote Basic School and Mary Issa Day Clinic, Lake said that the WLI has made its mark in a range of key areas including education and issues affecting women and children, including child sexual abuse and workplace inequalities.

The WLI was launched in 2004 by former United States Ambassador to Jamaica, Sue Cobb, as part of the United Way’s Women’s Leadership Initiative and Building Bridges Exchanges.

Lake said that another education programme, a series of “Darkness to Light” training workshops aimed at improving the skills of caregivers of children to better detect and prevent child sexual abuse, had already trained over 30 employees of non-governmental organisations, children’s homes and places of safety.

Abigail Taylor, head girl of Holy Trinity High School, and special guest at the Women’s Leadership Initiative International Women’s Day breakfast, poses with, from left, Nicole Brown, chair, advocacy committee; Eva Lewis, chair, mentorship committee, and Linette Vassell, director of the Women’s Resource Outreach Centre and member of the 51% Coalition.