CaPRI launches study on value of the Diaspora
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — A study to examine the value of the Diaspora to Jamaica’s development will be launched on Jamaica Diaspora Day (June 16), which is celebrated annually in Jamaica and abroad.
Some of the results will be revealed at the Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference to be held in July. The designation of Diaspora Day emerged from one of seven Resolutions put forward at the first historic Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference held in Kingston from June 16 to 17, 2004.
This culminated in the issuance of a proclamation on June 14, 2005, by the then Governor-General, the late Sir Howard Cooke, for the day to be celebrated annually on June 16.
The proclamation requested the support of Jamaicans at home and abroad for the activities of the Jamaican Diaspora.
The launch is being jointly undertaken by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) and the Jamaica Diaspora Institute (JDI), with support from the Jamaica National Group.
Executive Director of the JDI, Professor Neville Ying and Co-Executive Director of CaPRI, Dr Damien King, will be the main speakers at the event, scheduled to take place at the Jamaica National Financial Centre, 2 Belmont Road, starting at 7:30 am.
Research Officer of CaPRI, Shanike Smart, says some of the findings of the study will be shared at the upcoming seventh Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference, slated for July 23 to 26 at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston. It is one of the main events to mark Jamaica’s 55th anniversary of Independence.
“We will be presenting our findings on one of those days, especially where we are at in terms of the survey. We are hoping to wrap up the entire research within the following month or two,” she said, adding that CaPRI will be working overtime to meet the deadline.
Explaining the reasons behind the study, Smart noted that there is need for a comprehensive collection and representation of the true value of the Diaspora.
“I think the information existing is very inadequate and mostly anecdotal… . I find that persons just have a little bit here and a little bit there,” she said, adding that if people do not understand the magnitude and significance of the diaspora, the value will be underestimated. “We want to add evidence. We want to empirically justify the perceived value. Persons do believe there is value, but we want to put a number on that,” she continued.
Smart pointed out that the data will show whether there is economic value that the Government is not exploiting and what can be done to get the value that exists, and the best strategy to get this.
“Rather than just speaking from the top of our heads, or from where we think we are, we want to empirically add to the discussion and allow for a more informed discussion,” she emphasised. Smart, who is the lead researcher on the project, says survey questionnaires have already been issued in the Diaspora.
“We are hoping to have a minimum respondent rate of 400 individuals. That’s a good representative sample of what the estimated Diaspora stock is,” she explained, adding that CaPRI will request data from companies and offices where information exists.