For the majority of the time, I was engaged in research on HIV prevention for Jamaican youth–which culminated in a presentation of findings (Securing our Future_ Presentation) and the distribution of the Report, which is featured in the my previous post.

Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica

In addition to that research, I was very busy traveling across the Jamaica, visiting five Social Development Commission (SDC) offices–Portland, Trelawny, St. Thomas, Kingston and St. Andrew, and St. James–to deliver key human rights materials, as part of the thrust to mainstream human rights (HR) in the everyday work of SDC community development officers.

The main training material that I used was the SEJ Community Development Manual for Trainers, which outlines the modules, subjects, presentations, forms and other useful tools for introducing residents to their development rights and responsibilities.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between Jamaicans for Justice and the Social Development Commission in October 2009 sought to establish a partnership aimed at strengthening its officers for more effective community development programming. The commitment included:

1. Delivery of five training of trainers workshops to 65 participants,
2. Execution of a national print (newspaper, brochures and posters) and electronic (radio) multimedia campaign for four months,
3. Facilitation of nine community workshops across three unique communities and parishes reaching a minimum of 75 residents,
4. Establishment of an archive of HR materials in key locations in the parish, which are accessible to the public,
5. Integration of HR components in the annual plans of SDC officers as at March 2010,
6. Integration of HR as a key topic/ sub-topic in presentations by SDC officers to community leaders, etc.,
7. Distribution of digital support materials on HR to SDC officers in order to build their knowledge base on HR.

At a later date, when I’ve evaluated the key components of the MOU, I will publish the SWOT report, but preliminarily, all stakeholders agree that HR awareness is critical for community development.

HIV prevention

The following Report, Securing our Future: Lessons in HIV prevention for girls and young women (Jamaica) is a follow-up to the ‘Report Card on HIV Prevention for girls and young women, Jamaica’ (2006).

It presents current data on key points raised in the Report Card, outlines the recommendations of youth, from the National Youth Declaration, for addressing the gaps and challenges raised by the Report Card, and evaluates the data to justify the current value and importance of the Report Card.

The general position of the Report is, improving and increasing actions on HIV prevention for girls and young women is critical because “women are not only being infected with HIV more frequently than men, they are becoming infected at a younger age. The numbers of new infections peak among women between the ages 15 and 25 years, while for men this peak occurs a decade later, between 25 and 35 years old” (Mann & Tarantola: 1996).

Based on this situation, an absence of HIV prevention actions for girls and young women translates to an insecure and unsustainable future for all Jamaicans.

Children's Rights

I created this post to seek and get feedback on the following Children’s Rights presentation that I am preparing to sensitize students and their teachers.

I took on this challenge subsequent to a conversation with children in my daughter’s class about fighting–I realised that 5, 6 and 7 year olds could be informed about Children’s Rights and use the  information to improve student-student and student-teacher relationships.

I just started the process of converting my research notes to the presentation template, so  it is not yet a completed version of what I intend to present. Nevertheless, I felt that I could benefit from your feedback especially concerning some of my core considerations:

1. Colour scheme–I chose a colourful, attention grabbing presentation template, which in my opinion portrays an environment that is safe and fit for, and attractive to children.
2. Language use–I used large, straight texts that can easily be read and with letters that could be identified by the youngest target.
3. Content–was presented using a Q&A format, so that children can create easy connections. Answers are delivered in short phrases/ sentences and separated by bullets or numbers for distinguishing concepts.
4. Activities–child appropriate activities are suggested to  reinforce the assimilation of information.
5. Subject–personal pronouns are used to express children’s basic rights. It is anticipated that this will encourage connection with the content in the presentation.
6. Outcomes–are articulated so that the presenter and other stakeholders can readily identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure their success.

So what are your thoughts? Do you have any recommendations? How can I improve it to make it connect with the kids?

Educational Coaching

Over the past week the quality of education has taken center stage in the Jamaican media, with the Minister, Andrew Holness chiding elementary/ primary school teachers for the general ill-preparedness of students for secondary schools.This news comes at the dawn of Jamaica’s presentation of a status report on its achievements towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

MDGs

The Minister’s chiding must come as a surprise to many educators and Jamaicans generally, who have been convinced since the 1980s, when I was a child and growing up, that our education system was superior to even the US. I grew up thinking that there was nowhere around the world where I could get better–a long standing misconception stimulated by the so-called universal elementary access. That was such a Big joke that almost 30 years later we are caught running with our tails between our legs and the dear Minister scrambling to modernize the system that has doomed so many youth.

Before proceeding with my article, I feel it important to articulate my background in education, as it will help you to better understand where my views on this matter are coming from. I am a third generation educator, sprung from a grand mother, mother and aunts who are trained and practiced Jamaican educators. Aside from Jamaica’s so-called universal access, I have always been (un)fortunate to have a household of educators whose interest was tied up with me believing the fabled best quality education. It did not take me long to unravel the myth–as soon as I commenced secondary level education I began to see more clearly–educational success was for the socially privileged, and many of us who dared to make ourselves an anomaly by being too bright, faced the humiliation of teachers  or the lack of will from parents.

I always wondered why my mother never attempted to help me with math–”I never went to high school,” “I didn’t do CXC math,” she would say. Let me tell you, it was disappointing to hear my mother give these excuses–after all, I was a child who was half her age, with no experience other than primary school and I was able to clear the ominous mathematical clouds, yet she, with her experience preparing youth up to grade six was fearful of helping me. I later found out that like so many others, she was a victim of an education system that instilled fear and crippled our people with low confidence, which made them unwilling to try.

So you can imagine that the latest move by the new Minister, in chiding educators, came like music to my ears. “Finally,” I said, “someone at policy level has begun to see more clearly.” But, on closer scrutiny, I realized that the Minister wants to see significant improvements in the education system, while ignoring the need for wider social changes. From the Minister’s statements, captured across the print and electronic media, he espouses that schools, although miniatures of the society, should not reflect its ills. They should therefore be exemplary– a lighthouse in a foggy dawn. Schools are therefore miniatures of what our society ought to be.

Social Stratification

At a press conference at Jessie Rippol Primary, the Minister proposed that those students who are not found to be academically inclined should be placed in schools to promote skills development. This functionalist sees social stratification as normal and natural, modernizing it as a means for ensuring that ‘the most talented and able members of society are allocated to those positions that are functionally most important for our society.’ Education is then the ‘providing ground for ability and hence the selective agency for placing people in different statuses according to their capacities.’ (Haralambos & Holborn, 2000).

Despite the need to keep stratification in tact, the Minister has a desire to reflect the liberal ideals of a progressive education system, which serves the needs of the people and fulfill the expectations of a modern democracy, especially under the watchful eye of the UN. For me it’s like playing with a three card man–there’s no way to win, as a progressive education system is the antithesis of social stratification, which the Minister will retain with his proposed screening system. A word of mouth liberal and die hard functionalist, his arguments are indicative of an ideal in which schools function like the future society–the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business, and where all the social classes accept and are satisfied with where they are placed.

While the Minister acknowledges, through his delivery of Grades F to various schools, that the hidden curriculum contributes to failings, he does not seek to examine the hidden curriculum as something that is functional to society–a covert contract handed down from the society to maintain stratification and the status quo. He proposes that we execute individual assessment of schools and teachers, which inevitably labels them the culprits of failure, rather than the society that infiltrated and intimidated them with its own hidden code on the treatment of people of specific social classes.

I therefore extend a word of caution to the Minister–the whole is the sum of its parts. The education system is merely one part of the whole, which reflects and maintains all the ills that exist within our society–class and colour prejudice and privileging, abuse, crime and violence, self-hate and skin bleaching, and expectations of failure. To change the education system we must change our society, because it is the whole that influences its parts. We therefore need a multisectoral approach involving private, public, and community entities that are committed to and supportive of wider social changes.

Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre (entrance)

I recently concluded a series of human rights workshops with inmates at the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre,  located in Portmore, St. Catherine (Jamaica). The experience has left me hopeful–on account of participants’ enthusiasm to learn about human rights and quickly apply their newly honed skills to secure better living standards and quality of life; as well as institutional leaders’ enthusiasm to obtain materials and demand that workshops be designed for them as well.

Over the duration of my visit I have sought to: impart knowledge about human rights, advocacy, the Access to Information Act, networking and communications, leadership, conflict, group development, and participatory governance; transfer skills in: leadership, advocacy, and networking and communications; and gather data about inmates’ experiences realizing their economic and social rights (ESR), as well as the preparedness of Fort Augusta for development and participatory governance, via large group discussions, surveys, face-to-face conversations, and general observation.

View of Rehabilitation Unit and Training Rooms at Fort Augusta

It was quite encouraging finding that both the inmates and staff were interested in learning about human rights, not merely in order to protect themselves, but to better serve the Fort Augusta community. In fact, in conversations with institutional leaders such as the superintendents, assistant superintendents, and officers, I was asked to use my findings to help them lobby for and integrate a human rights approach in their work. Critical human rights tools were requested and disseminated to institutional leaders and inmates, and I was given the charge, by inmates and Superintendent Pitter to advocate to the Ministry of National Security (MNS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to take their human rights challenges seriously and consider mainstreaming it within the institution. To fulfill this charge, I must now assume the role of advocate in order to represent the issue to the various stakeholders.

In addition to universal education about human rights, which staff and inmates had consensus about. Inmates also noted that particular situations needed urgent attention if the institution was to be seen as fulfilling their fundamental rights as laid out in the: Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, and the Corrections Act (Jamaica). The major complaints of the inmates are listed below:

1. Absence of a decent and routine family day–We don’t get to touch our kids, even if they visit. Of the 19 participants who were present at the Assessment Workshop, 10 were mothers who attested to not seeing their children in over one year. Of the 10 inmates who had not seen their children, at least six of them are Jamaicans, who have children in the island. The inability to see children is worsened by the fact that telephone calls to children are only permitted during the week and at hours when they are at school,
2. Roach infestation–I work in the kitchen and both it and the laundry area are infested with roaches. Even the seasoning for the food has roaches in it,
3. Rat infestation–the rats are very big, the size of mongooses, and they are in our dorms. We can’t sleep at nights,
4. Absence of toilet and shower facilities–there are no toilets and showers in the punishment block. We have to use buckets to defaecate in. I was there for about two consecutive months and I had to use newspapers as my toilet. People pass on the outdoor of the block and see us while we bathe inside,
5. Inadequate access to medical care–persons with medical conditions and illnesses  don’t get to see a doctor until at least one month after reporting the problem. There are persons with toothache who can’t see the dentist. I have had this condition on my foot since November, and four months have lapsed since I reported it. It is worsening but I can’t get the attention of a doctor,
   
6. Inability to realize all our rights to visitors–We are short changed or our visit times, as we are allowed five minutes rather than the regulated 15 minutes. Further, only three individuals are allowed to register to visit an inmate at a time, which takes six months to process for eligibility. If there are unforeseen circumstances, like loss of employment, which impair registered visitors, the inmate will have to wait another six months before a new batch of visitors are eligible. Inmates often times do not get their special meals during holidays like Christmas, on account of this situation,
7. Lack of privacy when inmates get visitors–An officer is always there, which makes it quite difficult and uncomfortable to talk with family and get emotional support,
8. Inadequate access to telecommunications–there are three phone booths and only one is working. This situation has made it very difficult to keep in touch with family, as two dorms comprising of a maximum of 28 inmates are allowed to use the sole functioning phone. Jamaican nationals get two minutes conversational time, and non-Jamaicans get five minutes, which expires by the time the connection is made overseas,
9. Slow processing and transfer of funds–foreigners have difficulty getting their money, which is sent by relatives. One British national noted that her brother had sent her cash (pounds) in a letter in September 2008, from which she was given the letter, but not the cash. On contacting the prison administration she was told that the money was lodged and is being processed. Since being told that she made three official requests (in writing), after which she was told that she should wait for them to contact her. Six months have now passed and the money has not been given to the inmate,
10. Unavailability of nutritious food–the tuck shop supplies only sweet juices and snacks, which does not encourage a healthy diet for our physical development and monthly nutritional needs,
11. No remuneration for employment within or outside the institution
12. Lack of access to grooming tools
13. Lack of uniformity of treatment of inmates by officers

Inmates maintaining Fort Augusta's Grounds

These challenges are certainly not insurmountable, and I believe that the stakeholders of Fort Augusta–Major Reese (Permanent Secretary, MNS), Dr. Edwards-Kerr (Director, Monitoring and Evaluation Division, MNS), Mrs. June Jarret (Acting Commissioner of Corrections, DCS), Mrs. Mabel Morris (Inmate Welfare Coordinator, DCS), Mrs. Sylvia Passley (Rehabilitation Coordinator, DCS), Mr. Courtney Gordon (Education Coordinator, DCS), Superintendent Kelly (Fort Augusta), Superintendent Pitter (Fort Augusta), Assistant Superintendent Schloss (Fort Augusta), Corporal Appleton (Fort Augusta), and Fort Augusta inmates–have the right attitude for development. I can’t wait to see the outcome of my charge, to advocate for the institutionalization of human rights at Fort Augusta–What a model this would be for Jamaican communities,  Fort Augusta: Prepared for Development!

Leaving Fort Augusta (with the prison behind this is the road ahead)