Trench Town Trade and Investment Fair

This is a little glimpse of my November 2013… pictures and more captions to follow! :)

WELCOME - Can't believe this is happening! :)

The Trench Town Trade and Investment Fair took place on Saturday November 16, 2013, and it was one of the most spectacular events I’ve ever had the privilege to be part of.  When I signed up to volunteer in Jamaica, I definitely didn’t think that I would have the opportunity to plan and coordinate something like this.  As I’ve explained in previous blogs, the Agency for Inner-City Renewal works in community development, with a specific focus on entrepreneurship.   With that came the opportunity to introduce The Rebirth of a City through Transformation of Inner-City Communities.   It was exhausting and the AIR staff is sick, tired and/or drained, but from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on November 16^th, we transformed Emancipation Park!

Meeting to seek interest from entrepreneurs 

But before, we had to organize a church service and a press conference, in addition to soliciting exhibitors and individual entrepreneurs, seeking sponsors for funding support and mobilizing the community, churches and schools to volunteer, attend and participate in the coordination of the entire event.  Programs had to be written, invitations had to be sent, outreach and advertising definitely had to be completed, meetings among meetings were scheduled to secure arrangements and ensure that everyone was on the same page! Every logistical issue that could come up, DID, such as too many tents and not enough exhibitors to showcase their product/service to not enough tent space for the amount of sponsors interesting in supporting AIR; searching for sponsorship to feed the 30 volunteers and 100+ school children; realizing the night before that we didn’t appropriately secure parking arrangements at the park; and finding entrepreneurs with market ready products that could be displayed (mind you many individuals don’t have an email address and so they were individually called or we had to drive around communities to personally ask if there’s any interest). 

Strong Women of Trench Town - table of market-ready products

Trench Town Ceramics & Art Centre

Church Service November 10, 2013

On November 10, 2013, the Trench Town Multi- Purpose Community Centre on Collie Smith Drive and Fifth Street was converted into a church service.  It was important to put on the service as receiving community respect and support is essential in any initiative, event, project an organization plans for.  And so, individuals from Trench Town and the broader community in Kingston came out to participate in prayers and songs that sent out a clear positive message about transforming Trench Town from an inner-city community that is plagued by violence and fear to one that has potential for producing bright and experienced people with talents and skills in agri-business, music, sports, writing, IT, (to name a few), therefore helping to contribute to Jamaica’s socio-economic well-being.  It was quite a nice Sunday service but shortly after it was finished, it was back to setting up for the press conference and fair itself. That meant that we had to grab our To-Do list and it was back to printing brochures, information materials and pasting labels on the folders for the press kits, sorting out any finishing touches and hoping that the press conference runs as smooth as possible.  Again, the press conference was part of a broader market campaign for the fair, which included television coverage; mention in the local newspaper; and live radio broadcast so that the message about the Trench Town Trade and Investment Fair was heard by as many different audiences as possible, and to confirm that a positive outcome was coming out of Trench Town on Saturday November 16^th.

Church service - kids performing a skit

Church service - kids performing a dance

Press Conference November 11, 2013

With the church service and press conference past, attention was fully turned to organizing and tightening up preparations for the grand final, which was taking place in less than a week now. Needless to say, emotions and pressure were heightened.  By this time, we still needed to fill three 30X30 tents with individual entrepreneurs, call sponsors to seek their contribution so we could pay our invoices, recruit volunteers to help on the day, ensure school principals in targeted communities allowed 10 school children to carry their community flags to the park, and also physically being at the park the night before to ensure it was set up appropriately. And these tasks mentioned here only scratched the surface of what we actually had to complete that week!  

Park day before - Friday set up

Tent/park set-up day before

So it is now Saturday and my day begins at 6:00 a.m. by escorting company sponsors and entrepreneurs to their respective tents to set up, meanwhile continuing to organize the park according to  he floor plan.  By 11:00 a.m. the park was open to the public and the program began with guest speakers, key messages by the supporting sponsors and an awards ceremony to recognize those who completed various training courses in business management in greenhouse farming.  At the same time, a marching band was coming

Marching Band

through the opening gates to entertain us with great music and dancing, and soon to follow were the school children with feather banners with the names of their respective communities to be placed in the park.  By the afternoon, the park was filled with interested spectators, entrepreneurs were displayed their products, companies offered samples, financial and other sorts of service information and materials 

Community Feather Banners

and non-profit organizations and foundations spoke about community development projects taking place in inner-city communities.  It was the time for networking and developing business deals, which I’m happy to report that a few entrepreneurs negotiated preliminary 

deals with companies and community foundations during the event. 

More tents, more displaying

Lunch Break at 4:00 p.m. getting some R&R

Evening musical performance - phenomenal singers

The night wasn’t complete though, without entertainment! We had musical performances from various artists and genres from Trench Town and surrounding communities. By 10:00 p.m., we were thanking the audience and participants for attending, packing up the tents and clearing out the tables and chairs.  I can honestly say that by that time, it felt bitter sweet!

Although the days were long and we spent most our evenings either at a meeting, at the office or just getting home in enough time to sleep, for one day we transformed Emancipation Park into a hub for all that is great about Trench Town.  We celebrated the remarkable creativity and talent that Jamaica has to offer – a successful event!  

To top it off, I was part of the radio show, Roots 96.1 FM the following week to give my perspective about my experience being part of the planning of the Trench Town Trade and Investment Fair.  AIR’s founder, along with one of the main musical artists at the fair and I explained AIR’s goals in assisting the Trench Town community to own their development by using their creative entrepreneurial skills to rebuild the community towards economic growth.  Jamaica cannot sustain itself in its current social-economic state and we used the radio show as an opportunity to inform listeners that these types of events would be a continued effort to push communities to take the initiative towards making those necessary changes.

Social Development Committees Conference – The Governance Framework: “The Pathway to Local Economic Development” – TIME NOW!

The Social Development Committee (SDC) is the principle agency responsible for building and strengthening civil society organizations’ to participate in national development processes.   It works with 84 communities within Jamaica at 4 governance levels: Parish Development Committee (PDC) is a network of organizations, which coordinates and monitors local development processes at the parish/jurisdictional level. Development Area Committees (DAC) represents a cluster of communities called development areas, made up of stakeholders such as private sector, non-profit organizations and key government agencies.  Community Development Committee (CDC) is a body that determines and pursues common interests’ specific to a community, and provides the voice for supporting citizens’ participation in local governance.  Community Based Organizations (CBO) are voluntary groups within a community/district such as youth groups, citizen associations, environmental or health-related groups that represent a special interest or segment in a community. 

The Local Government Reform Act has become a national initiative that is guiding SDC’s mandate to developing strong functional communities and their involvement in decision-making, citizens’ concerns and overall governance practices.  The issue is that after more than 17 years, the Local Government Reform is still under review, requiring further consultations before it could even be tabled in Parliament and considered as legislation.  The significance of the Act is to formally declare Parishes in Jamaica as Municipal Corporations, who would deliver specific local services and follow regulatory requirements, in addition to maintaining good governance, sustainable local development and maintenance of civic order within their respective jurisdictions.  Provisions would be made to confer legal recognition on Community Based Organizations to become local authorities and be responsible for preparing Local Sustainable Development Plans and promoting/facilitating physical, social and economic development within their local areas.  For example, currently CDCs cannot open a bank account because committees cannot register for a Tax Return Number (i.e. unique identification number assigned to individual taxpayer, business or organization needed to perform any transactions with institutions such as banks, schools, government agencies) and so it is very difficult to raise any capital without being formally registered.  Since CDCs can’t register as a committee, people must volunteer on an individual basis, and so pursuing collective development interests within a community is limited and frustrating.

This description provides the main features of the Local Governance Reform Act, and is the basis for the series of consultations taking place across the 13 Parishes (i.e. districts in Canadian terms), in which the discussion has shifted to promoting the need for social entrepreneurship, and national integrity that draws away from corruption, towards strengthening governance practices.  As part of my strategic planning work for how AIR can provide expertise and capitalize on the partnerships, I had the privilege of taking part in two of the sessions, in Manchester (town of Mandeville) and St. James (Montego Bay city) parishes.  In this blog, I wanted to showcase some of the great work that is coming from Jamaican citizens who have taken it up

on themselves to push for change!  From my participation and the discussions that transpired, it was clear that communities have had enough and are taking action on their own terms.  This is being done through public advocacy and the signing of a petition to speed up the process of formalizing CDCs, and pushing Parliament to table the Local Government Reform Act!

 It was evident that necessity and struggle has driven Jamaicans to become natural entrepreneurs and if Jamaica is to ever change its fate, it is through structured and accountable community development and social entrepreneurship initiatives.  The Rastafari Indigenous Village (www.rastavillage.com) located in Montego Bay is one of those examples.  Community persons developed a partnership to acquire a land, and received support to promote a cultural village in Jamaica that nurtures Rastafarian perspectives.  Individuals can stay at the cultural village and be part of the creative industry, which includes a history of Rastafarians heritage and the struggles of the culture in Jamaica, as well as a taste for music and food, among other Jamaican experiences. 

SDC has been provided with the permission to act on pushing the Local Governance Reform Act, and the communities have decided that they won’t wait anymore - Time is Now!!

Like Learning to Walk...

It’s Monday morning and the CUSO volunteers have loaded up into Mr. Mason’s cab to prepare for our first day at our volunteer placements.  

The lovely Ms. Onyka Barett, CUSO staff member has been assigned to introduce me to the staff at the Agency for Inner-City Renewal and sign off the “Tripartite Partnership Agreement”, a document that outlines responsibilities and roles. Quite formal if I say so myself.  We have been in training and escorted to places all week, and I have not been working for a good 2-3 weeks, so let’s just say I’m quite nervous and anxious at this point (and in vacation mode too :-D)!  I am not sure what I’m in for and I’m hoping that they will like me – feels like going to an interview for a job I really want - definitely haven’t been this nervous in a long time.  Within minutes of walking into the AIR complex, we are greeted with smiles and hugs.  I have a moment of relief and quickly realize that I’m at a good place.  I am shown to my desk, which is a small room with 5 computers and 7 people required to be in this room (I’ll let you do the math), 

and I realize that I’m encountering one of the many employment differences, working in a public versus non-profit setting.  See back home, I have a fairly large cubicle, with my own space and earmuffs to drown out the hallway conversations.  Very different than conversations in a shared space, but no earmuffs to help with concentration and so I must learn to tune the background noise out :s.  But the really impressive part is that I didn’t have to wait 2-3 weeks for a computer, as would be the case back home.  I get a verbal synopsis of what I am doing, I am provided with some documents to read, and my orientation begins.  I am quite overwhelmed and unsure I am cut out for this gig.  So what will I be doing?  I will be re-writing AIR’s strategic plan that will include an assessment of the organization and ways to secure financial resources.  With that, I will be able to meet with different community representatives in Trench Town, employers in the broader Kingston area and accompany some of my colleagues as they deliver on project activities and hold community committee meetings.  Basically, the coin has been flipped where I am now part of the recipient organization that must deliver on results – really cool!  

Now the other part of the experience is the transportation system.  Everyone must understand first that we were provided with specific training on the transportation system with respect to the dos and don’ts.  So the funny part is that in order for me to commute to/from work everyday, I must commit to all the don’ts.  In a week I have taken a bus to work, which is equivalent to a coach bus back home, not an issue but then I jump into a “white license plate” cab, which is an unregistered taxi and only moves once it’s full of passengers (opposed to a “red license plate” which is a registered route taxi and the recommended choice).  On the way back home, I take a Coaster, which is a mini-bus that drives at excessive speeds and the conductor aggressively entices passengers to jump on to get home.  No matter which mode of transportation you prefer, a ride costs $100 JA, and it’s all about picking up your groceries from the side markets and running errands, while trying to get home as soon as you can before it gets dark.  So you can imagine that everyday is an adventure to the point where I have adopted my very own motto – day-by-day, I am conquering the world! – perhaps this will be the tattoo I get to commemorate my time in Jamaica! J And so each day this week, I smile and nod and say my thank yous as I receive all sorts of comments, gestures and I go about my way… 

So what have I done… by Friday I have accompanied the project manager to Trench Town High School to discuss how to restore the greenhouse that was torn by Hurricane Sandy.  The greenhouse project is a USAid funded project that looks at food security by implementing social entreprise through micro-financing.  There are 3 in Trench Town at various development levels.   I have met with the founder of AIR to discuss my learning/workplan and the timelines to complete the strategic plan, in addition to attending a meeting with potential partners for exploring youth entrepreneurship opportunities, attended an expo that promotes local businesses, and most importantly I will have seen photos of my colleagues’ families and I feel like I am part of the AIR family – to the point that I have already had my first basketball banter with a very knowledgeable ball fan so I think I’ve earned some respect! For the ball fans, he thinks Chicago Bulls isn’t a contender, he almost tried to knock my Kobe and thinks Bosh is a star player – bah!).  I have also walked home from the grocery store past the recommended timeframe.  You must understand that this is an accomplishment in itself and probably one of the hardest obstacles for me, living in Jamaica!  

Oh Oh and I experienced my first rainfall, really cool! When it rains, it pours but my shoes are still wet from Thursday.

Now the weekend begins, and I will start this all over again with more personal stories and professional experiences to share with you.

Take care and have a great weekend

Dee 

Connected and Ready to Go!

Hello Everyone!  I apologize in advance, I didn't get internet until Friday and so I'll try to sum up my new life in the last week .  Jamaica is a very beautiful country, surrounded by mountains, fruit trees and some of the nicest people I've met in my life.  On the other hand, it has been difficult opening a bank account, buying groceries and basic essentials, setting up the internet and getting a cell phone. You must wait and be patient as you stand in some of the longest lines I've seen in my life!!!  And it's true what they say, it's very expensive here.  For example, a small (and I mean small) bag of almonds is easily $9.00 CDN.  Every day presents a new challenge and at the end of it, I feel as though I've conquered the world. :)  Here's a little taste of what I mean.  I live in a nice house with 2 other roommates, Sugi and Karen (both from Canada) but we live behind a gate that encloses the driveway and one that guards off our front door.  We are told to travel in groups and to not to be out late (i.e. past 6:00 PM) as it gets dangerous.  However, as the sun rises around 6:00 AM, the city is busy and chaotic again, with people running errands, exercising, heading to work or "higglering" (selling product in markets).  So for those who know me best, believe it or not, but I have become an early bird and am learning to love dog barking and frog croaking, while I sleep!!!!!

There are about 7 CUSO volunteers, who have come from Barbados, Guyana and Canada, and will be working with different partner groups in youth and children, human rights and justice issues. We have been in training for the whole week! We have all come to adore the CUSO driver, Mr. Mason for being so patient with us and taking us where we need to go.  Our volunteer coordinator, Nick has been phenomenal in teaching us about Jamaican culture, local norms/protocols and amazing eats.  We also learned some interesting self-defence moves and even went to a few neat volunteer placements.  Starting Monday, I will be volunteering at the Agency for Inner-City Renewal (AIR) in Trench Town. From my understanding, AIR has set up greenhouses in various areas within Trench Town to promote youth entrepreneurship.  My adventure will begin at 9:30 AM, where I'll be transferred by a CUSO staff to AIR and then I'll be on my own, trying to figure out route taxis, street and local etiquette and trying to balance it all!

This week has been quite the culture shock, from buying a 1/4 jerk chicken from a street vendor using his own bbq to being frustrated by trying to buy my first young coconut.... All I have to say at this time is that I am starting to understand the differences, and appreciate those that I am accustomed to. But I can't wait for Monday to keep learning and experiencing!!

Take care for now,
Dee