The intermediate outcomes of the policy are the strengthening of the institutional and legislative environment, and providing a framework of cooperation among State and non-State actors for sustainability of the poverty reduction efforts. The policy and programme aim to eradicate extreme poverty by 2022 and reduce the national prevalence of poverty to less than 10 per cent by 2030.

Minister Bartlett, has announced that the World Bank has agreed to partner with Jamaica and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in staging the historic Global Conference on Building Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism for Development, which will be staged from November 27 to 29 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, St. James. The move is aimed at boosting the global impact and positioning of the conference.

St. William Grant Park in downtown Kingston was abuzz with activities last Thursday, as people converged on the venue to commemorate World AIDS Day. [...] This year’s World AIDS Day activities had a youth focus which strategic information advisor at UNAIDS Erva-Jean Stevens told the Jamaica Observer was vital, as data shows that new infections among young people 15-19 years old are not decreasing at a fast enough rate.

Transparency International chapters in the Caribbean plan to work together to share their expertise and experience across the region and form the Transparency International Caribbean Network. This network will bring together Transparency International chapters in Jamaica, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago, one partner organisation in Guyana and one in Bahamas that recently joined plus experienced regional anti-corruption activists in St. Kitts and the Cayman Islands.

The Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ) recently struck a deal with China Radio International (CRI) to share educational content, documentaries and a television series produced by the Chinese media entity, to be aired in Jamaica. [...] The documentaries will highlight the culture and lifestyle of Chinese people, which falls within the focus and mission of the PBCJ “to promote culture and heritage alongside with values and attitudes”

Think diplomatic spouse, and you may imagine it’s about hosting parties and accompanying diplomat hubbies on official outings. But this is not the case of Jamaican Anneke Clarke, the spouse of John Clarke, Jamaica’s Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa. 

With a brand that simultaneously presents a welcoming, cheerful facade and a darker, more sinister underbelly, Jamaica’s nation brand presents difficulties to its economy. Can it successfully position itself as neither a perennial resort nor a crime-ridden Caribbean island and achieve its full potential internationally?

Of all the islands in the Caribbean archipelago, Jamaica is probably the one that is the most effectively branded, Rihanna and Barbados notwithstanding. […] Interesting then, that the island has chosen not to rest on its laurels; rather, it is striving to reinvent itself via the first ever Brand Jamaica Symposium, which was held in July at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.