Youth, Education, Community & Welfare
Vulnerable citizens can find and apply for the support they’re entitled to without having to visit offices — removing the highest barriers for those with the fewest alternatives.
What we’re building
Epics & the forms that make them up
Each epic below groups the government forms and services this theme delivers.
Financial Assistance & Benefits
As a family struggling to make ends meet, I need to apply for financial assistance, disability benefits, and special needs grants online, so that I can get the help I'm entitled to without travelling between welfare offices to work out what I qualify for.
- →Financial assistance applications (completes existing guidance page)
- →Special needs grant
- →Disability benefit application
- →Prevent benefit double-dipping – cross-agency eligibility check (Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs + National Insurance Scheme)
- →AI-powered eligibility matching – proactive identification of citizens who qualify for benefits but haven't applied
Senior & Elder Care
As a senior citizen or a family member caring for one, I need to register for elder care programmes and access services online, so that I'm not relying on someone else to make the trip to a government office for me.
- →Senior citizen registration
- →Application for Community Elder Care Programme
Child & Family Support
As someone facing abuse, a disaster, or another crisis, I need to be able to report concerns and reach support services at any hour, so that I can ask for help when I need it without waiting for an office to open.
- →Report child safety concerns (critical safety service)
- →Report elderly abuse (critical safety service)
- →Get access to domestic abuse support (24/7 digital access)
- →Disaster relief assistance applications
- →Fire victim assistance
Youth & Education
As a young Barbadian or a parent, I need to register for camps, volunteer programmes, and youth opportunities online, so that I can take part wherever I live without travelling to an office to sign up.
- →Summer camp registration
- →Sports camp volunteer applications
- →CARICOM Youth Ambassador Application
Grounded in citizen research
User needs this theme meets
The needs below come from the 2,054-citizen survey and are what this theme sets out to address.
As a citizen preparing to use a government service, I need to know exactly what documents, information, and forms I need before I start, so that I'm not turned away or sent on additional trips to gather things I didn't know were required.
As a citizen who has started a government process online, I need to finish the entire process online – including payment, submission, and receiving the outcome – so that I don't have to take time off work to visit an office for the final step of something I've already done most of digitally.
As a citizen dealing with multiple government agencies, I need to have information that one government department already holds be available to another department that needs it, so that I'm not spending my time and money travelling between offices to shuttle paperwork that the government itself generated.
As a citizen who primarily accesses the internet on my phone, I need to use government websites and portals on a mobile device without difficulty, so that I can access services from the device I use most.