Operation Seek and Save Donation
Haigh Communications collaborated with Innottech to provide the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) with 200 cases of bottled water to be distributed to people working with Operation Seek and Save.
Tablets Donated
Left to right: CGI representative Jonathan Jones; Joyann Haigh of Haigh Communications Inc. and Nicole Wiltshire, Group Marketing Manager of PVH Group 
Presentation of devices by Haigh Communication Inc.
The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training has been armed to make things a bit easier for a few more households in Barbados. With the Google G Suite Tech Drive already underway, devices for the less fortunate students to be kept abreast with online learning are being provided, and close to 100 additional tablets were presented to the Ministry yesterday.
In an open-air ceremony which took place on the lawns of the Constitution Road headquarters, the Rotary Club of Barbados, the PVH Group, and Consumer General Insurance handed over a selection of tablets and Chief Education Officer (Ag.), Joy Adamson said that the Ministry was thankful for the donation at this time.
“This morning we really want to recognise the Rotary Club of Barbados for their donation. To date they have donated 42 devices that we are now receiving. They have promised that they will continue to, as long as they get the devices, continue to supply us with devices so that we can be able to distribute them. We are also grateful to the CGI company and the PVH Group who would have donated 50 devices,” she stated.
With the selection made including Kindle Fires, Alcatel tablets and Logic tablets, Adamson explained that the latter type was necessary for those without access to internet and thanked Digicel Barbados for the role they played in facilitating the needs of those persons.
“The Logics are the tablets that can carry the SIM cards because we are aware that there are some persons who need the internet access and therefore we restrict those Logics to those persons with the SIM cards. We want to thank Digicel for the 5 000 SIM cards that they have donated to the Ministry that we can also use in these tablets.”
With the drive having received 1 060 devices to date from several agencies in the private sector and from individuals, they have distributed over 750 of these devices with the most vulnerable persons identified by the Welfare Department, being catered to first. It was also revealed that Class Four students were also provided with devices and the programme was now on to fifth and sixth formers at secondary schools.
Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Betty Alleyne-Headley was pleased about the donation and noted that there was still much work to be done to ensure that no child was left behind in Barbados.
“We are extremely grateful and we would wish this Google Tech Drive to continue. We are trying to reach at minimum 6 000 devices, and to date, we are not near what we wish to have donated. At maximum, we do not mind a donation of 10 000, but all those children who are less-fortunate, we are hoping to be able to have a device,” she said.
Rotary Club of Barbados President Elect Fiona Hinds explained that their donation came out of a joint initiative with their junior arm, Rotaract and stated that with the year of her presidency focused on children, the Club recognised the need for a degree of equality at the basic level as equal opportunities are necessary for everyone. She also pledged the Club’s commitment to assisting the Ministry achieve its goals in the online education project.
“This is a continuous project and we hope to be able to continue into the future and help until there is no need. We will serve above self in all avenues of service,” she stated.
Group Marketing Manager of PVH Group Nicole Wiltshire said that her company was pleased to assist this initiative as protecting the island’s level of literacy could only augur well for our society.
“Our way of life and what we consider to be normal has taken an unprecedented shift and to get through this, we must all play our part and lend a helping hand wherever it is required. Bayview Hospital, Diagnostic Radiology Services and Platinum Motors thought that they would come together as a group to step in a contribute to those households who are in need at this time. We understand and value the importance of education and would like to do our part to maintain the level of literacy that has been achieved in our country.” she said. (MP)
Excerpt from The Barbados Advocate 5/26/2020
Haigh on board
Commuters who are frustrated and fed up with the long waits and delays in the island’s transport system now have a new voice.
The former head of the Barbados Water Authority’s (BWA) communications department and Rapid Response Unit, Joy-Ann Haigh, has taken up the role of being an advocate for commuters.
Her company, Haigh Communications Inc., has been contracted by the Barbados Transport Authority to execute and implement a commuter advocacy programme.
During a meeting with members of the media at the Transport Authority’s headquarters at the Constitution River Terminal today, Acting Director Maria Boyce said the move to contract Haigh’s services was necessary in order to promote public transport services.
Boyce said receiving feedback from persons using the service, operators and other road users, was an important aspect of the authority’s overall mandate.
The Acting Director said the authority needed to know how commuters feel about the services being delivered and to hear their suggestions regarding how the services could be improved.
“I think this gives an opportunity for persons to be heard and to be heard in a very personal way. And we welcome that opportunity through Miss Haigh and her organisation, to be able to hear what persons have to say,” Boyce said.
Boyce indicated that the authority does have a personal hotline number where commuters can lay complaints.
Haigh jumped right into speaking to commuters in the River Terminal and heard their personal accounts of their frustration with the long wait. She said her aim would be to hear all concerns affecting commuters in an effort to have them addressed.
The communications specialist, who started the company after she was retrenched last year, said she would be making herself available to commuters as much as possible.
“But I think the most important thing right now is people want the bus on time and if there are challenges, that they are informed. I think that people are more concerned now that they are paying $3.50 and they want a reliable comfortable service.
Work Underway
Preparatory work on the Bridgetown Transformation Project started as promised yesterday, and a fence has been erected around the old National Insurance Scheme (NIS) building to secure the site.
Speaking to The Barbados Advocate yesterday, Chief Executive Officer of Haigh Communications, Joy-Ann Haigh, whose company has been contracted to carry out the public relations for the project which was announced by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley last Thursday, said the contractor has started to do ‘light work’ on the inside of the building, none of which will impact the public. This, she said, includes removing some of the windows to the back of the structure.
Her comments came as she revealed that her company and the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. is set to meet today with the executive of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN). She explained that following that meeting, the hope is in the next day or two to meet with all the vendors that will be affected by the project. Haigh’s comments came as she made it clear that those directly impacted by the development will be the first to be notified about the project and any expected impacts.
“We were recently engaged to deal with the communication with the public on this project, but we will not be speaking to the media at this stage. The more immediate communication must be to the vendors and businesses in the area and people who live in the immediate area of the construction site. When that is completed the wider public and everyone will then be fully informed,” she said.
She added, “It is only fair to ensure that those who are going to be impacted directly get the information first-hand directly from the PR company and not the media houses. Moving forward we will be sharing information with them and directly with credible media houses,” she said.
Haigh added that once these visits to the businesses and residents are complete, persons can check the project’s soon to be launched social media page or the local media for updates.
“Whatever is happening, if you don’t see it on our social media page we will soon be setting up, you will see it in the media and if you see something on WhatsApp that is not in keeping with that page or a credible media house, you know it is just a rumour,” she stated. (JRT)
