Development of many other taskforces

The Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force (JDETF), which was formed in August 2013, is looking to transform “brain drain” in Jamaica and convert it into “brain gain”.

The early success of the JDETF has caught the attention of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, Ministry of Education, United States Agency for International Development, the Union of Jamaica Alumni Associations (UJAA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade.

Since the formation of the JDETF, it has been hosting an annual Education Summit for educators, first in Jamaica and now in the United States.

Educators from Jamaica have been making their way to the US to attend the education summits that feature workshops, training, schools and university tours, and other exciting learning opportunities.

This year the summit moves to New York and is hosted by the UJAA from March 21-25. The two previous face-to-face summits were held in Florida and were hosted by the Broward Alliance of Caribbean Educators and the Broward College, respectively.

During the pandemic the summits went virtual and were the highest attended summits yet with more than 6,000 teachers joining virtual sessions.

Significant partnership developed

Loma Linda University hosted the annual EXCEED teacher development programme, another successful and significant partnership developed through the JDETF.

Teachers travelled to their California campus to attend the yearly one-week workshop on using devices to teach in the classroom. This programme ran yearly from 2014 through 2019, long before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The success of the education task force has led to the development of many other Taskforces: Agriculture, Technology, Immigration, and crime, to name a few. The formation of the successful JET-UK in London and JMED in the Middle East, which is an excellent example of the task force model. As of 2019, the Taskforces, now 15, have formed a network, the Jamaica Diaspora Taskforce Action Network (JDTAN.) 

Recently, JDTAN further divided education into four task forces, Special Education, Early Childhood Education, Primary & Secondary, and Tertiary, to deepen the engagement with the education sector in Jamaica. The chairpersons are experts who lead all task forces in their fields. Leaders that have chosen to put their abilities and strengths into “action” for Jamaica.

The taskforce model is a proven way to engage the Diaspora in service to Jamaica. Providing a mechanism for individuals to give back seamlessly, explore the strengths of their talents, and collaborate for development.

The task force model has been a growing success since the first meeting in August 2013 started with only six registered individuals in the US. Today taskforces in the JDTAN have recorded more than 1800 Jamaicans across 45 countries.

The list grows every day. The 15 task forces cover 17 sectors. They are very active, assessing needs, goal-setting, strategising and executing. Forty commendable leaders serve with pride and have committed to advancing Diaspora engagement across the globe.

Since 2019 alone, over 30,000 Jamaicans have benefited and participated in Taskforce programmes and projects. JTDAN task forces have also partnered with more than 100 organisations, institutions, businesses NGOs and ministries for successful interventions.