Excitement builds for Diaspora Conference

With one day to go before the opening of the 9th biennial Diaspora Conference, excitement is building among Jamaican expatriates.

Several people will be travelling to Jamaica for the in-person part of the hybrid conference, while there has been a significant increase in the numbers of people registering to log on remotely.

The conference, themed ‘Reigniting a Nation for Greatness’, starts Tuesday, June 14, and ends on Thursday.

This year’s staging coincides with the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence and has been included in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade’s events to celebrate the milestone.

Global Jamaica Diaspora Council Member for the US Northeast Region, Dr Karren Dunkley, said that the Jamaica Diaspora Northeast participation in the conference will ensure inclusivity, voice, and agency of expats through stakeholder engagement of more than 125 community leaders and organisations.

”We must recognise that Jamaica is a borderless diaspora. We emphasise that as the diaspora engages in these collaborative and insightful discussions at the conference,” said Dunkley.

To that end, she said that the Northeast USA identified several priority areas:

• Activate a comprehensive infrastructure for consistent communication and interaction between Jamaica and the diaspora, including serving on governmental committees, workgroups, task forces, and public boards.

• Begin with the appointment of diaspora members based on technical expertise to public boards, beginning with National Education Trust, National Health Fund, JAMPRO, and HEART.

• Collaborate with the diaspora to assess the long-term learning loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic on children and youth and align companion solutions to address these needs.

• Convene a global educators’ roundtable to explore and implement promising innovative practices across the pre-K –17 continuum, incorporating strands such as entrepreneurship, agriculture, conflict resolution, STEM, and topical issues.

• Implement a health and wellness work group to modernise medical facilities, including hospitals and clinics; leverage the healthcare foundation to support and strengthen medical missions; create an electronic health record to account for treatment and follow-up of population care, and assess/bolster preparedness to handle non-communicable diseases.

• Leverage the diaspora to create pipelines for the blue, orange, and green economies.

Dr Allan Cunningham, the global Jamaica Diaspora council member for Southern US Region, said that he is looking forward to an excellent conference.

“I believe that the primary focus of the conference is to explore the potential of diaspora engagement into development as well as to examine policies and programmes that can be designed to maximise the full potential of all of us here in the diaspora,” Cunningham said.

“It is more evident that as our role morphed as part of the island’s economic engine, not just based on remittances and foreign direct investment, but we also create businesses, entrepreneurship, and transfer new knowledge and skills. Not to mention our philanthropic and social appetite for Jamaica land we love,” said Cunningham.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, which is hosting the conference, said that the event offers the opportunity for transformational engagements in several areas, including health, education, business opportunities, and the creative and cultural industries.

The ministry said that faith-based organisations and the youth will also host sessions on community development and transformation.

The conference will feature a virtual marketplace, Government at Your Service, allowing for the delivery to participants of fast-tracked services by eleven departments and agencies of Government, and a culturally rich entertainment programme.

The price tag for the conference has been estimated at $30 million.

Lester Hinds