DESPITE a recently released 2023 report showing that more than 80 per cent of respondents were not aware of the Ministry of National Security’s Liv Gud campaign, with mixed views on its impact among those who were aware, the ministry says it has done a lot to move the programme forward.

The national anti-violence campaign, which was launched in 2019 by Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang, is a call to action for Jamaicans to take a stand against anything that violates good living and all forms of crime and criminal activity. The programme was in response to the level of violence across the island, with the aim to ensure that citizens and community engagement remain a critical aspect in bringing about safe communities.

According to the Jamaica National Crime Victimisation Survey 2023, which was released last month, of the more than 240,000 citizens above the age of 16 and living in a private dwelling who were questioned in 2022, only 11.5 per cent were aware of the programme, with 86.7 per cent being clueless about its existence and purpose. There were 1.8 per cent of participants who did not answer the question.

The survey further revealed split views among participants who were aware of the programme, regarding its impact, with 44.2 per cent believing it had a positive effect and 47.7 per cent believing it had no impact. Additionally, the report stated that 51.9 per cent of the respondents agreed that the campaign did an excellent job of encouraging citizens to respect life.

However, 53.3 per cent of respondents said they did not believe the ministry was doing enough to promote the campaign, while 36.9 per cent agreed that enough was being done to bring awareness about the campaign.

In response to the findings of the 2023 survey, Winsome Vanhorne Christie, communication specialist at the Ministry of National Security, said the programme has grown.

“We will agree that in 2022 we were not visible but since then, we have done a whole lot,” Vanhorne Christie told the Jamaica Observer.

She noted that when the programme was first launched in 2019, it started underground with murals in Swallowfield, on Old Hope Road, South Camp Road, in Spanish Town, and on Mountain View Avenue. However, five years later, they have moved away from this underground approach.

“In 2022, when they were still underground with these murals and the COVID-19 [pandemic] came and all kinds of excitement happened, we were doing a few meetings after COVID but now we are more out there throughout the island. Just in February we were in western parishes in about six or eight schools,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“We have partnered with TVJ’s All Together Sing — I think we have done it for three years. And the school that uses either the lyrics, or music, or both in the competition, we provide them with musical instruments for their music department. We have also had a basketball competition that’s called Shoot Hoops Not Guns, where we have gone into communities in the zones of special operations (ZOSO),” said the communication specialist.

She further noted that the ministry has placed advertisements in newspapers, on the radio, television and on billboards, as well as conducted school tours to bring the message of living good to students.

The ministry also launched the Liv Gud activity book — which promotes positive interpersonal relationships among students in schools — last year, with the hope of having it embedded in the primary school curriculum, said Vanhorne Christie.

“We were asked to establish a table at the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counsellors Conference that they had late last year and I can tell you, practically every guidance counsellor in that room came to us saying that they have heard about Liv Gud and they want to be a part [of it, that they want] for us to come into their schools and speak to the children,” she added.

She further noted that there are big plans for the campaign in 2025.

“We’re going to continue the school invasions, and we’re going to be doing a school tour throughout Jamaica during Youth Month. We have taken our Liv Gud brand into our correctional facilities, and we’re planning to host a competition among the young people…our wards of the State,” she said, adding that visits to all 14 parishes are being planned for the campaign in order to spread the message to live good.

In response to the survey results that stated more than 80 per cent of respondents were unaware of the programme in 2022, Vanhorne Christie said that almost three years later, “if you go back to them now they’ll be saying something different because now we are more on the ground with the project”.

“We have already improved from 2022,” she insisted.

Principal of Denham Town High School, Yvette Richards-Thompson shared that the Liv Gud campaign team visited her school last year at a time when the institution was witnessing a flare-up of violence among students.

“We started to see a decline in terms of the number of incidents on campus, but at the same time we still had some students who would have needed a little more motivation, some information, and support in order to maintain that level of progress we were seeing,” she told the Sunday Observer.

She noted that the campaign has a good concept and, given the state of violence in the country, it is good to start exposing children to less aggressive ways to air their frustrations.

“What we probably need is a more intense and prolonged campaign within the school, and maybe at a school level more educators could, once the ministry has started the programme, just continue it,” she suggested, adding that she is aware of schools which were part of the campaign but which have not fully implemented its teachings.

“It would be interesting to see where the campaign goes from here, and it would be good to see something more sustainable in all schools, with all schools having this campaign running throughout the year,” said Richards-Thompson.

A section of the Liv Gud Activity book cover, which was launched by the Ministry of National Security last year.

VANHORNE CHRISTIE…we will agree that in 2022 we were not visible but since then, we have done a whole lot