Growth & Jobs | Dr Wayne Henry: 20 years of contribution to national development

DIRECTOR GENERAL of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr Wayne St Aubyn Henry, has been making significant contributions to the country’s growth and development for more than 20 years.

He has done so through wide-ranging engagements encompassing academia, the public and private sectors, as well as at the multilateral level, that have won him considerable acclaim from his peers and other stakeholder interests.

Dr Henry’s distinguished career has seen him serve as lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona; head of the World Bank Jamaica Country Office; special adviser in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, and vice-president for government affairs at the Scotiabank Group.

Since his appointment at the helm of the PIOJ in 2016, Dr Henry has been actively and integrally engaged in advancing Jamaica’s sustainable development policy.

Under his stewardship, several activities were initiated there in support of the country’s implementation of the National Development Plan – Vision 2030 Jamaica, and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Among these, he tells JIS News, was the establishment of a National Oversight Committee (NOC), which he chairs, and hosting a UN Mission to undertake a Mainstreaming Accelerating and Programme Support (MAPS) engagement for SDG implementation in Jamaica; an SDG readiness audit, conducted by the Auditor General’s Department, to analyse and determine the country’s readiness for SDG implementation; and the preparation and presentation of Jamaica’s first Voluntary National Report in 2018.

“I was part of a team led by Minister Pearnel Charles Jr, in his capacity at the time as state minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and we both presented at the General Assembly of the UN on how Jamaica was doing in terms of the readiness and implementation of the SDGs,” Dr Henry notes.

He said that, in 2019, Cabinet approved the PIOJ as the official focal point for SDG implementation in Jamaica.

Additionally, Dr Henry says that four Medium Term Socio-Economic Policy Frameworks (MTFs), which focus on the implementation process over three-year cycles in terms of the goals and priorities and ensuring these are aligned with the general strategic plans within ministries departments and agencies (MDAs), have so far been developed.

These covered the fiscal years 2009-2012, 2012-2015, 2015-2018, and 2018-2021.

“Of course, these engagements were accompanied by a series of consultations with stakeholders in government, the private sector, and civil society. So, it’s quite a bit of activity that I have been privileged to be a part of,” he further says.

EXTREMELY OPTIMISTIC

Noting that Jamaica has made tremendous progress in the implementation process, Dr Henry points out that at least two-thirds of the indicators have either been met or are on the verge in this regard.

Notable among these areas, he points out, are human development, especially literacy rates at grade four; reduction in the unemployment and poverty rates; macroeconomic stability; and governance.

“Areas that we need to continue to work on [include] non-communicable diseases and crime, especially violent crime, which is a huge challenge. But I’m extremely optimistic about Jamaica’s future in relation to achieving the targeted outcomes for these areas and others,” the director general says.

“As we have been measuring progress, we can be encouraged by how far we have come, and just be renewed in our efforts to accomplish more,” he adds.

For his invaluable contribution, Dr Henry has been conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD), at the National Honours and Awards Ceremony held on National Heroes’ Day, October 18.

He tells JIS News that he is “grateful to God” and “very humbled” by the national recognition.

“A number of persons in Jamaica have been serving, unsung heroes who continue to give yeoman service and go beyond the call … and many are not recognised. So, I feel very privileged to be so recognised. It’s also a testament of and tribute to the strong teams that have been around me, in terms of supporting my efforts and contributions. We all have accomplished so much as we have worked together,” he adds.

Despite the engaging nature of his activities, Dr Henry says he has been able to maintain a balance between career and family.

He has been married to ophthalmologist Dr Gail Henry, whom he describes as his “best friend” for 14 years.

The union has produced a son 12-year-old, Joshua, who is currently in second form at Campion College, one of two secondary schools Dr Henry attended, the other being Calabar High School, and daughter, 10-year-old Gabrielle, a student of Emmanuel Christian Academy.

“Persons close to me know that I had an older son who passed on not long ago. That was one of the dark and painful times in my life. But God has been supportive in bringing comfort,” he shares.

A devout Christian, Dr Henry is an accredited pastor in the Methodist Church in Jamaica and is based at Saxthorpe Methodist Church.

He, however, fellowships with other congregations, pointing out that “I also speak at different churches, so I am actively engaged in a teaching-preaching ministry”.

Dr Henry said that his love for service is grounded in his upbringing, noting that his father, former Bureau of Standards Executive Director, Rev Dr Artnel Henry, and late mother, Merle Henry, who served at the PIOJ for nearly 40 years, “were very strong public servants ... and justices of the peace ... [who] served the country very well”.

“They influenced me very strongly in that general awareness of the values of serving the country,” he adds