Whether it is Jamaica or Philadelphia, the issues are similar. Lives and communities scarred by violence. A disproportionate percentage of young men the victims and perpetrators of violent crime. Family and community dysfunctions contributing significantly to violence. There is moral panic surrounding violence, urgent demands that it be reduced, but no simple one solution.

At its March monthly meeting, the VPA was honoured to host Denise Clayton, former Director of the Philadelphia Youth Violence Reduction Partnership (YVRP). Her presentation was both enlightening and thought-provoking.  In talking about the experience of the YVRP in Philly – a city with a historically high murder rate compared to other big cities in the U.S. – she identified some key pillars of the programmes success:

• One of the first questions is who are the right people to have at the table – there has to be higher level buy-in (judges, chief of police, representatives of human services) to make it sustainable.
• Very focused objective – murder reduction solely
• The programme’s probation officers act in a different way – each probation officer has only 25 cases and works with a street worker. The street workers are usually from the same neighbourhoods and experienced similar life challenges.
• Unlike Chicago Ceasefire – the support officers have leverage, they can return the youth partner to jail. This leverage is critical.
  
• The big strategy is intensive support and surveillance results in a reduction in murder. There was a marked reduction in the murder rate in all the districts the programme covers. 

One of the problems is measuring the impact of the YVRP since there is an ebb and flow, you have to separate out the general dynamics from the programme impact. It is an issue that they acknowledged and grappled with. Always good!

While you cannot transfer a programme or process wholesale, there are always principles and elements that you can learn from. Especially when you have an attitude of experimental public policy. These are key lessons which apply not only to those who do work related to human security, but simply for those who care about the impact of their work.

Apart from the elements discussed earlier, what stood out for me for the centrality of accountability and a culture of monitoring and evaluation which was central to the success of the programme. We are very weak on both these in Jamaica.

In my short talk, I reflected on what Garvey said about education. That to be educated is ‘To be learned in all that is worthwhile knowing.’ This is far more than what you are going to learn in the classroom. It is about what you are going to learn about yourself from being challenged intellectually, from living in a new environment and from those that are there with you.

As a I looked at invited alumni, I saw a number of professionals who have made significant contributions to Jamaica in business, academia, engineering and medicine just to name a few areas. There is a common thread that connects all the generations. It is a time of personal self discovery and growth. A time when you are asking questions about where you want to go in life. And studying at a university consistently rated by the Times Higher Education Ranking as one of the best in the world (9th in 2009) played a pivotal role in their development.

UofT Alumni, Jamaica 1, a photo by Astley Henry on Flickr.

Mr. Jerome Poon-Ting, Assistant Registrar at the UofT Scarborough Campus was the university’s representative. His hard work was indispensable to the success of the event. For their part, other alumni talked of the rigour of their training, their lifelong friendships and how their UofT experience changed them beyond they skills they are able to deploy in their careers. We got to learn about playing in the Lady Godiva Memorial Band and I told of the great Snowpocolypse of 2008, the fact that I apparently survived and seem to be quite ok.

My view is that alumni are a bridge to the future for other students. Most of the challenges that they are going to face, we have faced. So neither students or alumni should be reticent in asking for and offering advice.

Admittedly, it was a short segment. However, what I think would have made it an exceptional one was more specifics about the impact of the problem on our country and ‘how’ do we as a society effectively tackle it. What’s the how? Recommending repairing family structures is not the how. That’s the what. The how are the strategies and mechanisms we use to accomplish this objective.

So I am going to do a three part series (this is the first part), looking at some of the agencies involved in peace-building efforts (next week), and how they are doing it (the week after that). Let’s start with a mini situational analysis. Here are some other facts that should make all Jamaicans uncomfortable:

• In 2008, Jamaica’s homicide rate of 52.1/100,000 made us a world beater. This was far higher than both South Africa (33.8/100,000) and Columbia (33.4/100, 000) (UNODC 2011).

• The standard international definition of a war or high-intensity conflict is violence characterized by fatality rates of over 1,000/year; in Jamaica, 1,574 people were murdered in 2007 (UNDP, 2008).

• Young males are vastly over-represented in official statistics as both victims and perpetrators of crime and violence (McClean and Blake Lobban, 2009, p. 9).

• Violence-related injuries (VRIs) accounted for over 38,000 visits to accident and emergency units of Jamaican hospitals island wide in 2005. The estimated cost of patient care for VRIs in 2006 was J$ 2,100 million (UNDOC, 2008, p. 99).

• VRIs accounted for 12% of Jamaica’s total health expenditure in 2006 (Ward et al 2009).

• It is estimated that by reducing its homicide rate to 8 per 100,000 Jamaica could boost economic growth per capita by 5.4 percent per annum (World Bank, 2007, p. 59).

• Crime has a particularly deleterious impact on productivity, which locks the country into a low growth, higher crime spiral.

• Easy access to illegal weapons is a significant escalator of crime and violence (Leslie, 2010, p. 41).

Given all this, should we just give up? Not at all! Our high rates of crime are not automatic, but the outcome of a confluence of factors. If we tackle these factors, crime will go down. The late Professor Chevannes advised that ‘with concerted action from the affected communities and sectors of the wider society, violence can be effectively dealt with and overcome.’ Never was I more convinced of this than when I evaluated best practices in violence prevention late last year. I was struck by the dedication of the people who work in these programmes and in awe of how they accomplished so much with so little.

From academic and parenting support through to grief counselling, these programmes offer clear lessons regarding how to effectively reduce violence. Where will we find the cash to tackle the gaps one of the hosts asked. The foregoing statistics mean that we cannot afford not to find the cash.

After the national trauma of May 2010, we are again at a crossroads. While crime suppression activities absolutely have their place, Jamaica is not going to achieve a sustainable, long-term decline in our rate of violent crime by relying on these types of activities alone. We will have to be far more strategic about preventative interventions. I’ll touch on that next week.

Growing traffic to this space and the enquiries that it has generated demonstrates that there is a definite interest in research and how people and organisations can use evidence to enhance the impact of their work. Additionally, given the changes in technology, rapidly shifting public sentiments and consumer behaviour, I think the business of research is changing in ways that many of our research professionals, and those that consume research, have failed to adequately respond to. I am going to take a bigger chunk out of this trend in 2012.

Without further delay, the best of 2011:

1. #Jptweetup Remixed: The Tweetheart Tweetup – The Jamaica Pegasus’ social media leadership was an important event last year.

2. A Friend’s View of Egypt: From the Inside – A friend’s understanding of what is happening in is homeland.

3. Your Money eZine Business Summit 2011: Key Takeaways – Some great lessons from seasoned business people.

4. My Coffee Obsession, Act 1, #eatjamaican – What the title of the post says.

5. We Cannot Go On Like This – Worrying human capital trends for Jamaica as the youngest and brightest feel their future lies elsewhere.

 …

Wishing all my readers a productive year full of fun, meaningful work.

I went to Nuit Blanche at the end of September 2007 and, along with Canadian Thanksgiving, it is one of my favourite experiences of Canada. The overall atmosphere was quite relaxed and everyone so calm. It felt very different from large crowds at large events that I have been to in the UK or US. There were no large and unruly crowds of young men getting drunk and there were many families out and about. Oh yeah, its an arts festival, not a football match.

Nuit Blanche is not a banal arts showcase with pretentious people sipping free wine. It’s an all night, outdoor art festival with a great variety of art exhibitions, music, digital displays and plays. Two events I really liked were a recital by the Greek Diaspora in Toronto and what I think was a simulation of a military engagement in Iraq. There were soldiers, crashed planes and reporters. Later I discovered that it was supposed to be an alien crash landing. I said to one of the mock soldiers that if it were an alien crash landing, the public and reporters would never be allowed to get this close to the ‘vehicle.’ She smiled.

That is what I was asking myself when I read the Observer’s article pointing out that most young Jamaicans want to leave to improve their quality of life.  The main take away message is that when asked about their prospects in a number of traditional destinations for Jamaicans, a consistent majority of respondents felt that they would have better life chances if they left our shores.

A number of things stood out about the article. I am surprised that the numbers that think they would be better abroad are not far higher. This could be because although prospects are not great here, an increasing number of Jamaicans know that life overseas is not easy and comes with its own set of distinct challenges. Additionally, Jamaicans are some of the most robustly patriotic people in the world. I would have been far happier with the article if the writer made some attempt to seriously grapple with what such a large number of young people wanting to leave means. Surely it an indicator of deep, societal dysfunction.

Some of the sentiments of one of the officials on hand also intrigued me:

She went on to say that the survey has provided interesting and critical data about Jamaican youths and shows how best the country and government, including her agency can engage its young people and cater to their current needs.

It annoys me no end when news articles or speakers on the nightly news make claims that they do not go on to substantiate with evidence. Sorry, I’m a researcher. I have not seen the survey, so I can’t comment on the contents. But I would be surprised if a survey (especially in isolation) was used to determine how to engage our young people. And if the spates of violence in schools, constant Ananda Alerts and often troubling exam results don’t tell you that our young people need help and spur genuine change, then I am not sure a survey is going to do it. Surveys are very good at tracking long-term socioeconomic trends and less good at developing effective means for addressing pressing social problems. Participatory assessment and planning approaches exist. However, if our government cannot see that it needs to develop genuine partnerships with the successful ‘big people’ of the diaspora, how are they going to do it with disenfranchised, frustrated youth as their partners?

By now you know I like to throw numbers at you.

Figure 2 is taken from the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief 4 and illustrates that quite a high proportion of our tertiary graduates leave. More generally, the Caribbean has the second highest proportion of tertiary graduates which emigrate. Sub-Saharan Africa takes the gold medal in this unhappy contest. What is the impact of such a tremendous loss of human capital on institutional development? In non-international development speak, I am simply saying that it is hard to tackle some of the deeply embedded impediments to our progress, if our best minds feel they have no choice but to leave.  I can’t tell you how many Jamaicans I have met in my overseas travels who are so angry and upset that they had to leave to find success. Too many of them want nothing more to do with their homeland. Change requires a critical mass of people who want something better and have the skills to turn this desire into tangible progress.

All the vast majority of Jamaicans, young and old, want is to live in a society that rewards their efforts, allows them to fulfill their professional potential, make valued contributions to their community and raise their families in a secure environment. Is that too much to ask? Well, take a look in the mirror. It is going to require the effort of each and every one of us to redress rot that has been unchecked for some time. Pick and issue and get involved. I know one thing. We cannot continue like this.

So the government has new initiative telling people to eat Jamaican. I have no problem with this. In fact, I don’t care how red a tomato is, or how yellow a banana is, if it tastes like cardboard.

But it is coffee that is the great love of my food life. I am obsessed and it feels good. I have several different blends from all over the place and different machines to make them. Yet, none compares to our own. With the amount of money I spend on Blue Mountain Coffee, I know that I am making a huge contribution to the Eat Jamaican campaign.

Last Friday, The Jamaica Pegasus put on its third tweetup deemed the ‘Tweetheart Tweetup.’ I attended the second tweetup in September 2010. That one was held at the ‘Gardens at the Pegasus’ and I was very impressed. There are some great reviews of the second tweetup here and here. When registration opened for the third tweetup, tickets were sold out in 15 minutes. This time around the Pegasus did not match the success of the second tweetup. They surpassed it!

Why a Tweetup?

Tweetups are essentially about marketing and networking. It provides companies with an opportunity to amplify their message about what they do. They can also obtain feedback which is essential in becoming better at what they do. Additionally, tweetups have been known to create or cement brand evangelists –  customers who will go out and have conversations about why your product is so great. Invaluable!

A tweetup is also a networking event. Networking is essential in an ever changing labour market. Too many of us see ourselves as a business ‘army of one.’ It is neither true nor realistic. Your network is your resource for information, advice, help and inspiration. It was great to reconnect with my tweeps @Endzoftheearth, @YardEdge, @Stunnerj, @marciaforbes and @Jamaipanese. Shoutout to the new people I met too.

What was different about the Tweetheart Tweetup?

The ‘Tweetheart Tweetup’ had more of an upscale, focused, yet familiarly friendly feel. A great deal of the effect was due to layout. After the quick registration process you go up the stairs to the ‘Top of the World’ and you are greeted by a very enticing chocolate fountain by Chocolate Dreams.

We were then greeted by tasteful use of red and white decoration and lighting as you enter the ‘Top of the World.’ The participating companies became more adept at displaying their products. Lime had a couple of digital billboards in prominent places. There were also quite a few projectors displaying company logos and products. Nuvo also had very effective signage. There were also a greater range of companies. There were a number of tables and seats dotted around the  airy venue. The music, M.C. and food were all great. See other takes here and here.

What also struck me was how diverse the crowd was. A range of ages, professions, and socioeconomic backgrounds were in attendance. With this series of events, The Pegasus was reaching out to a range of present and potential customers and reinvigorating its brand.

As the competition for the consumer dollar heats up, companies will have to find innovative ways of conceiving, producing, distributing and marketing whatever they sell. INNOVATE OR DIE. I am glad to see the Pegasus grappling with this challenge headon. Many are not.

Is this a turning point in Egypt?

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In my sojourns abroad I have become good friends with a few Egyptians. One among them stands out in this instance as he loved to talk politics. A born activist. Let’s call him Amun. I was kinda worried about his safety for precisely this reason. Well I got a couple emails from him. He and his family are fine. I learned so much from the communication which just highlights once again how important local knowledge is. I am sure people have been watching Anderson Cooper get his but kicked, I mean the news and reading the newspapers and blog posts about ‘lessons’ (like what? people are fed up with bad government? *yawn*) from Egypt especially with reference to twitter or inequality and unemployment. See a nice rebuttal of some of the dumbest comments here.

What struck me about Amun’s emails was what he emphasised. His views are very different and detailed compared to what the so-called experts have been saying. A few things stood out in his emails.

Egypt is a society in which honour is very important. Many of the top brass in the military do not want to force Mubarak out and humiliate him. To complicate matters significantly, Mubarak will not step down voluntarily. He said it himself, ‘I have a Ph.D in obstinacy.’ Many Egyptians, even those on the street, do not want to embarrass Mubarak either. Not because they love him, but know that doing so will make it harder to achieve his exit. Moreover, the key issue is not Mubarak. It is about the Mubarak way of government. It is not clear how the political system is going to be reformed. The constitution even bans the formations of political parties! Additionally, the people angling to manage the much vaunted ‘transition’ (except El Baradei who many people see as ‘foreign’ and out of touch) are cut from the Mubarak cloth.

Next, the regime is not simply a military regime. It is an oligarchical economic system in which key families control a disproportionate amount of the wealth of the country. The military protects these people and vice versa. Quelle surprise. These people are in favour of the status quo. Whatever happens, transforming the economic situation will not be easy or quick.

Egyptians are also watching the world, as the world is watching Egypt. To say the Obama Administration is not responding well to the crisis well is an understatement. At first, the muted response was seen by Egyptians as support for Mubarak. Which in light of Obama’s address to the Muslim world in June 2009 was seen as a slap in the face. Then, the President seemed to do a complete 180 and called on Mubarak to go. This was interpreted as an attempt to place themselves on the right side of history when the status quo became untenable. Moreover, it made it harder for Mubarak to save face. There were still others who felt that the U.S. should just keep out altogether.

Then there is the media. Why did the foreign news media and ‘experts’ come to Egypt and speak mostly to Americans? There are many hundreds of thousands of Egyptian Americans, with many experts among them, but they have not been broadly drawn into discussions by the Obama Administration.

Enter General Suleiman. He is not liked by some of the key generals. And they have told Mubarak, hands off the army. Additionally, his lengthy address to the nation was seen as menacing by protesters. It had a number of subtle threats. So what is the extent of Suleman’s authority?

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