Role of nongovernmental organizations in health activities in Trinidad and Tobago.

s and Reporfs 193 paid or contract staff to assist member organizations in such areas as project proposal development, and that a documentation center be established as an information clearinghouse for and about NGOs. In addition, the conference urged governments to recognize NGOs as partners in development, encouraged NGOs to involve their target groups in decision making, and supported leadership training for NGO personnel. Priorities for Future NGO Activities. Areas for NGO action urged by the conference included educating the population to adopt more responsibility for its health; identifying needs and alerting the government to changing patterns; emphasizing programs in such areas as lifestyle change, care of children and the elderly, and mental health; and organizing a conference on women and health that would focus on nutrition and AIDS. Specific recommendations included a call for more formal consultation with NGOs in the crafting of national health policy, constituting NGOs into a lobbying body for the development of the policy, and having organizations ensure that their members remained abreast of national health policy developments. Strategies for the Mobilization of Resources. The conference recommended that the seven priorities identified in both the Caribbean Cooperation in Health initiative and the National Macro Planning Economic Framework 1989-1995 should become the basis for resource mobilization. Other recommendations included that more resources be allocated to such efforts as the provision of essential drugs, nutrition, personnel training and retraining, and education for behavioral changes-areas that were relevant and complementary to the government’s priorities; that in addition to seeking support from other NGOs, financial resources from national and international agencies also should be sought; and that ministries of health and finance should support requests from NGOs to international agencies as long as those requests were not contrary to government policy. Mechanisms for Sharing Information and Resources. The conference recognized that information was being generated more rapidly than it was disseminated and that information was being lost or not analyzed. To offset this problem, the conference suggested that a skills bank be developed to identify areas of specialization or interest to each organization; that a newsletter be produced and distributed; that a resource development center be established, funding proposals for which would be submitted to international agencies; and that the possibility of convening a seminar on communication be explored. As a direct result of this conference, an ad hoc umbrella group was set up. This group has undertaken activities in project development training, mobilized support for establishing an NC0 resource center, and organized a communication workshop. In addition, priorities for NGO activities were agreed upon and are being implemented. 194 Bulletin of PAHO 25(2), 1991