It’s a pleasing thing for those who witness at first hand the far-reaching, longer-term benefits of their efforts to help others. And those of us looking on from the outside should always applaud when we see those efforts pay off.

For that reason, we join organisers of the Agents for Transformation programme in celebrating positive outflows from their 2022-23 intervention, which has helped to trigger what’s been described as “life-changing results” for teenagers at Charlie Smith High School in Trench Town.

An article this week tells of how financial securities dealer Sterling Asset Management Limited and charity group Joy Town Community Development Foundation joined forces three years ago to help children who were “at risk of expulsion, suspension, gang involvement, and other negative behaviours”.

We are told that through the Agents for Transformation programme, organisers “combined life skills training, academic support, counselling, case management, and parental engagement to foster positive behavioural and academic change” for 30 children.

Crucially, 13 parents received guidance on ways to “reduce violence in the home and provide stronger support for their children”.

Students were exposed to “new environments and possibilities” in sessions hosted by University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica, the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), and HEART/NSTA Trust. We are told the children were encouraged to “set goals and pursue opportunities” they may have “previously considered unattainable”.

Students and teachers said the programme boosted vocabulary, reading, comprehension and mathematical skills. Teachers said the students showed improved behaviour, increased focus, confidence and class participation.

And, in the recent Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, the programme may have had an impact on what’s been described as a “remarkable improvement” in English passes at Charlie Smith High, from 13.1 per cent to 75 per cent.

Miss Kasheina Allison, a 17-year-old who, we are told, is now in the retail trade, preparing to begin a course in food and nutrition at HEART/NSTA Trust, tells us that she had “a lot of anger issues…” However, the social intervention programmes helped her “to control my attitude and focus more on school. My grades improved a lot.”

Now she is dreaming of becoming a chef and one day serving in the JDF.

She tells her peers: “Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Challenges help you grow.”

This newspaper believes that programmes such as the Agents for Transformation are absolutely essential in stabilising and bringing peace to our communities. They should be replicated everywhere in recognition of the reality that law enforcement strategies by themselves, without accompanying comprehensive social interventions, will not sustain peace.

In that respect, corporate Jamaica should follow the example of business houses such as Sterling Asset Management Limited in giving back.

And surely no praise can be too high for charities such as Joy Town Community Development Foundation, registered since 2001, but which started at an informal level way back in 1989 as a faith-based group dedicated to helping the downtrodden.

Much can be achieved if the State, corporate Jamaica, non-governmental organisations, everyone, join hands in lifting up those most in need.

Let’s all pull together for the good of us all.