Empowering Girls and Young Mothers in Grenada Through Dignity, Education, and Inclusion

On February 6, 2026, we had the pleasure of visiting the Grand Anse Social Development Centre (GASDC) and the Programme for Adolescent Mothers (PAM) in St. George, Grenada to celebrate Dress Down Day. A day of celebration before Grenada’s Independence Day where Grenadians dress in the country’s national colours and traditions.

The Grand Anse Social Development Centre in St. Georges, Grenada. 

Opened in September 1999, GASDC serves young women aged 14 to 18, offering a second-chance educational pathway for those who have not thrived in the mainstream school system by building essential life skills such as independence, self-confidence, and meaningful community contribution through vocational and academic training in areas including Food and Nutrition, Hair Dressing, Clothing and Textiles, Nail Technology, and Computer Literacy/Information Technology under the leadership of Sister Alison and dedicated teachers.

Similarly, the Programme for Adolescent Mothers (PAM) empowers teenage mothers and pregnant adolescents through counseling and continued education, delivering an integrated curriculum of traditional academic subjects, skills training, health and family life education, parenting, and family planning to help them transition confidently toward a stable and promising future.

Supplies for the Dignity Kits.

Since 2022, Cuso’s BLUEPRINTS program has supported local governments in Grenada, Dominica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to better integrate gender equality and social inclusion into programs, policies, and services for women and marginalized groups; including women with disabilities, Indigenous women, and LGBTQI+ people.

As part of this effort, the Grenada team collaborated with GASDC and PAM to develop and distribute Dignity Kits, providing girls and young women with feminine hygiene products, tools, and information. By distributing Dignity Kits and promoting open dialogue on menstrual and sexual health, the project aimed to reduce absenteeism, public health risks, and vulnerability associated with menstrual mismanagement, while strengthening gender equality, social inclusion, and regional collaboration across the Caribbean.

Sister Alison and Jaqueline Pascal talking in the entrance of the GASDC.

Crafts made by the girls and young women at GASDC for Dress Down Day.

Fashion show and oil down competition at PAM.

For Dress Down Day, the girls at GASDC created beautiful crafts, embroidered pieces, and jewelry to display their national pride. They also cooked along a delicious lunch featuring Grenada’s national dish, oil down. We then made our way to PAM to enjoy an oil down and fashion competition where the girls presented their oil down dishes and fashion creations to a panel of judges.

Throughout the celebrations with GASDC and PAM, we spoke with their teams about the programs and skills the girls and young women were developing. We also met with recipients of the Dignity Kits and the discuss the impact of the kits. It was a day full of celebration and reflection of what young women can achieve when you give them the tools to thrive.