Return on Sacrifice? - Post-COVID Resilience Manifesto

Sacrifices have been made.

And the Beres Hammond song comes in,

No I never can understand it

The way the system plan

There's no hope, no chance, no loophole,

No escape for a suffering man

Cause every time I lift my head above water

And try to save myself from drown

There's an overnight scheme all worked out

Designed to keep ah me down

Still I'm

Putting up a resistance

I'm ah gonna work it out

You know I'm

Putting up a resistance

I've got to work it out

A cry made by many pre-COVID, and could be a cry that Jamaica can make. As our country started to emerge strong in our independence project, across the last two administrations, we are faced once again with a shock to recover from. But, resistance is put up. Resistance to fight the virus, and resistance to recover our livelihood as best we can.

And with this, heroes on the frontlines have executed extraordinary service to our nation to ensure we manage the crisis of COVID19. Also, many have taken a hard hit financially as important measures are taken to control the spread of the virus. Lives lost, families missing each other, and so much more.

We can never put a price/number on the full extent on the sacrifices made to even say we can make a 'return on sacrifice' sometime in the future. However we can, as we consider and transition into responsible opening of economic activity, put up resistance to ensure all sacrifices made are answered with a clear charge for better,

not a return to normal, but a return to better.

A new resistance to not only COVID, but to things that COVID has further clarified that we needed to have fixed more fervently pre-COVID. Putting up resistance, by making ourselves, businesses, and country more resilient. Build the immunity of our island to put up resistance to that which impede our ambitions, not just COVID, but the uncertain future. A resilience manifesto.

This forthcoming is just a list with many items touched on by experts, and I held back expanding too much on each, as will end up too long for this humble post.

So I decided to just list in free flow, with further expansion of each another time, and leave it to you, to expand on, with your view to different approaches and tactics we can take toward achievement.

Achievement of being more well as a people, and pursuit of a diversified economy, building community-based development.

The resilience manifesto

• "Wellness" as a national priority, to continue the shift toward prevention, especially our lifestyle diseases. And with this, enhancement of the capacity community level primary health care, with services that include more promotion/support for nutrition and physical fitness. PE for example should not be optional in schools. A must in all curriculums.
• Protection of our arable land, biodiversity and our critical water resources as non negotiable (note: Cockpit Country for example). Do not even give an inch.
• Access to, and consumption of fresh food, and better nutrition. Ensuring we support the farming belts of country, with irrigation systems, strategic storage sites, and linkage into a national distribution system.
• Digitization of business processes and important Government services, while ensuring necessary privacy and cyber security in place. With this, we have to address more forcefully the digital divide. For too long people have to travel too far for simple services.
• Continue the journey toward solar energy production, and all other alternative energy sources. With each organization in the country measured on this and other environmental indicators, receiving incentives for success. Government agencies need to take lead and set example on this.
• Economic diversification, with refinement of the natural creative raw talent. Where content can be created, with due intellectual property protection for not only performing arts in physical form, but for online distribution of the content of performing art (monetized). Distribution of music, performance, learning content to the world. Added to this the ability of persons to participate in BPO from their communities (beyond just call center services).
• With digitization, ensuring we create the necessary best minds and clusters of our creative filmmakers, photographers, artist and tech experts toward creative projects that benefit the nation. Be it feature films, or virtual experiences that can be accessed via VR headsets worldwide. Our communities, and the stories within it are compelling and powerful.
• Ownership of our online distribution of products and experiences (including tourism services, authentic craft products, and agricultural produce). Creation of our own portals that allow communities to have direct access to consumers, and fair share of the returns from the purchase. This also includes agricultural inventory levels in real time, to enable more efficient distribution.

With the above (not exhaustive), it must operate as 'the community as the enterprise'. Community governance structures enhanced, and true stakeholder engagement, for each member to take ownership and protection of their local assets. Where investment and support flows toward the journey of their development. Where the community as the enterprise can list on the stock market (and/or social stock market). Communities need to be development hubs, entrepreneurship incubators on a journey toward what ventures fit the natural assets and stakeholder ambitions within.

Oh ok, this may all sound idealistic. But we can start with one community as a model for better. Will possibly write another post, telling a story of one, to better express the view.

It will be a journey,

The journey of Reggae music and Rastafari is core to our national identity, but the lesson and journey of resilience resides within it, not just as music, but as the way. As we do need to return to a natural livity, but also capture global imagination and find ways to distribute worldwide, but with protection, with due share of value given to the people. The core of the resilience manifesto is movement away from mono-culture (a legacy of plantation economy) but a nexus with useful ancient retentions, mixed with technological progress. Atavism mixed with adaptation.

Sport (the business of), art, craft, performing art, fashion models, fashion retail, music, food, agriculture (yes including marijuana), educational services (our experts in various fields), BPO (at higher value end) and sustainable tourism experiences (in its various and diverse forms). With all this, I continue to believe in a Jamaica that can be the model for the world in all things, and create high quality products and experiences based on the raw talents of our people.

We just need to put up resistance against the impediments, some of which are our own. But if COVID has taught us anything, we can reform, and nationally mobilize for better.

Beres:

Blow wind blow, blow wind blow

I want to stay home tonight

I long to spend some time with the family

But staying home won't make it right

Sometimes the pressure make me feel like bawling

When every sign says no way out

Breaking my back to make an overtime dollar

That just goes from hand to mouth

Still I'm

Putting up a resistance

I'm gonna work it out

You know I'm

Putting up a resistance

I've got to work it out