(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles' Minister for Youth, Sports, and Family, Marie-Celine Zialor, has called for increased financial support to promote strong family values and prevent social ills.

Speaking at a Family Conference organised by her Ministry this week, Zialor emphasised the need to prioritise prevention, advocacy, and education in addressing family-related challenges.

“We want to portray the family in a positive light and not just social problems. The work that our Ministry does is not the same as the Ministry responsible for Social Affairs, it rather complements each other. They look at when issues have already happened in the family and what solutions can be implemented, we look more at prevention, advocacy and most importantly; education,” said Zialor.

The conference, aimed at raising national awareness about the evolving needs of Seychellois families, also highlighted gaps in current support systems. Zialor said, “We are supposed to have services available that look at the needs of the family at present and in the future as well, and I don’t think we are doing enough. At the community level, there isn’t enough support for families.”

To address these shortcomings, the Ministry is developing several special projects. One such initiative is a pilot programme called ‘Respite,’ which will provide relief for parents of disabled children and full-time caregivers.

“Right now, we’re going to start a pilot project called ‘Respite’ for parents who have disabled children or even people who are caregivers day and night, to give them relief. This needs to be decentralised but we don’t have enough capacity, so to help mitigate, we’ve also trained some District Administrators as well to help out,” she explained.

She stressed the need for better collaboration across government departments and a reassessment of resource allocation to ensure families receive adequate support. “We want to work with the Ministry responsible for Finance to ask that more resources be allocated towards prevention. There needs to be a review of the way that resources are allocated amongst the different departments and services for people; more synergies.”

Zialor also advocated for a return to community-driven family support. “Sometimes, people just need a little support. In the past, communities helped each other, and this is something we want to promote. I want to help people who are helping themselves,” she said, adding that the special projects will be extended to local communities.

The conference saw the official launch of the Ministry’s website, which Zialor described as a symbolic milestone. While not fully operational, she assured the public that the website will soon be available as a resource for information on the Ministry’s services.

She concluded by reiterating the central role of families in society and the importance of harmonising efforts to strengthen their foundations: “Strong and harmonious families should be at the forefront of society.”