GraceKennedy Group is being praised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for leading the charge in maintaining connections with the Jamaican diaspora via their annual ‘Birthright internship programme’.

The ‘Birthright Internship’ initiative provides a five-week-long apprenticeship period in which young people of Jamaican ancestry and descent are brought into the country to both work for Grace and get in touch with their roots. It is designed specifically for first, second, and third generation Jamaican immigrants at the University level in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Twenty twenty-five2025 marks 10 years since the programme’s inception. On Friday, July 25th, a ceremony was hosted at the GraceKennedy headquarters on Harbour Street in Downtown Kingston to commemorate this milestone, along with the conclusion of this year’s internship.

In attendance were Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson Smith, GraceKennedy CEO Frank James, and Chair of the GraceKennedy Foundation, Caroline Mahfood. The four internees of the year, Josiah Royes, Kyrah McIntosh, Lauren Roach, and Abigail Ralph, were also present.

“The Government of Jamaica expressly appreciates the integral role that GraceKennedy continues to play as a legacy partner,” Johnson Smith noted. “With GraceKennedy’s longstanding support, it should come as no surprise that the Birthright programme is appropriately aligned with the Government’s national youth policy. It speaks to ‘All Jamaican youth realizing their full potential to develop, participate and contribute as responsible citizens to sustain national development.”

Johnson Smith went on to state that the Government was pleased at the ‘branching out’ of efforts to maintain links with Jamaicans living outside the nation. According to the senator, a major goal of her ministry was to increase the influence of Jamaicans dispersed across the world in the country’s affairs.

“In 2020, we were very proud to establish the global Jamaican diaspora council, a larger and more representative model than [those which] previously existed,” the senator explained. “I like to describe it as ‘democratised’, because it allows Jamaicans in the diaspora communities to select their representatives as well, instead of them being ministerially appointed.”

According to the minister, the diaspora council has rapidly expanded, with members spread between 28 countries. Johnson Smith claimed that these efforts were focused not on the ‘First World’ nations such as the USA, UK and Canada, but instead on other states not as easily able to rally their Jamaican communities.

“We have to remember there are Jamaicans everywhere, even in Antarctica, there will be one of us waving the flag. Therefore, there is now a concerted effort to try to engage more deeply, and have more organised diaspora locations share their knowledge and leverage community support.”