Stand Up For Jamaica has entered a new year of its transformative programme with a JMD $12 million investment from the Sandals Foundation, expanding support for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) in Kingston and Portland while continuing educational and psychosocial rehabilitation across the island’s correctional facilities of Tower Street, St. Catherine and South Camp Adult Correctional Centres.

The 2026 programme will train 40 women in Kingston and 40 in Portland, while also reaching more than 100 community members through sensitization sessions aimed at strengthening gender-based violence awareness and prevention. The inclusion of Portland marks an important step in expanding structured support services for survivors in rural communities where access has historically been limited.

 “This year we have expanded our programme to support survivors of gender-based violence,” says Maria Carla Gullotta, Executive Director of Stand Up For Jamaica. “We will engage women between the ages of 18 and 40, many of whom are survivors of violence or residents of volatile communities identified through partnerships with community leaders, restorative justice offices and local health authorities. Participants will receive HEART-certified cosmetology training, along with counselling, legal guidance and entrepreneurship coaching designed to help them build sustainable livelihoods and reduce the economic dependence that often keeps women trapped in abusive environments.”

The programme’s evolution, Gullotta says, reflects a growing understanding that true rehabilitation requires more than education. “Over the years we have seen that when individuals are given education, psychological support and now livelihood skills, they begin to see possibilities for their lives that once seemed impossible. This programme is about restoring confidence, creating opportunity and helping people rebuild their futures with dignity.”

The 2026 programme builds on important groundwork laid in the previous phase of the partnership with the Sandals Foundation, which strengthened rehabilitation efforts within correctional institutions by introducing psychological and behavioural change interventions alongside education programmes. Through the support of the Sandals Foundation, in 2025 mental health clinicians, including counselling psychologists and psychotherapists were integrated into the correctional facilities’ initiative to help participants process trauma, regulate emotions and develop the resilience needed to fully engage in academic and vocational training.

Dr. Veronica Salter, Counselling Psychologist and Psychotherapist says the programme is already delivering measurable results. “These women inmates have faced a lot in society and have never had help to deal with it. They often feel inadequate as women and as mothers. But with the right support, we are able to help them regulate their emotions, express themselves and begin to rebuild their lives in meaningful ways.”

In 2025, more than 300 incarcerated individuals engaged in rehabilitation programmes, accessing education, counselling, vocational training and entrepreneurship development opportunities. The initiative supported 150 individuals through structured rehabilitation programmes, facilitated 103 participants preparing for CSEC examinations, and enabled 11 inmates to graduate from the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean, including five bachelor’s degree graduates and six associate degree graduates who all completed their programmes with honours.

One former participant, now a programme graduate, reflected on the life-changing opportunity the programme created.

“Being a part of the CSEC and Associate Degree programme facilitated by Stand Up For Jamaica and funded by the Sandals Foundation helped me value education in a new way. I am pleased to know there are still people who believe in the power of transformation and that not everyone wants to write us off and label us as criminals because we broke the law. Sometimes losing something — in this case my freedom — was the best way to unveil my potential, and I am eternally grateful for this opportunity.”

For the Sandals Foundation, the continued partnership with Stand Up for Jamaica reflects a long-standing commitment to investing in people and strengthening Caribbean communities through education, and providing second chances.

“Gender-based violence and incarceration are not isolated challenges; they affect families and communities across our region. By investing in education, psychosocial support and skills training, we are helping individuals reclaim their agency and create pathways toward stability and opportunity,” says Heidi Clarke, Executive Director of the Sandals Foundation.

Since 2019, the Sandals Foundation has supported Stand Up For Jamaica through investments in educational resources, teacher salaries, certification programmes and mental health services within correctional facilities. The programme’s continued expansion signals confidence in a holistic approach that combines education, healing and economic empowerment to create genuine second chances.