Wendel Abel

The challenges facing the new administration are many - violence, inner-city decay and stagnation, lawlessness and underachieving males.

Here are my top five suggestions to create a more enabling environment to facilitate economic growth and development.

Inner city development: Almost one-half of the population lives in inner cities or unplanned settlements. These communities are disorganised, associated with high levels of crime and violence, poor and, in some cases, without access to basic amenities. The boundaries appear to be expanding and are encroaching on many middle class neighbourhoods.

Efforts have to be made to rescue these communities through the containment of crime and violence, the stimulation of economic activity, the retraining of individuals and the creation of new opportunities. A number of successes have been recorded; notable among them is the programme in Grants Pen, St. Andrew, which resulted in a reduction in the homicide rate from 46 to one per year. This was achieved through increased training of persons living in the community, the creation of job opportunities, extensive parenting education and life skills training of the youth.

Enrich family life: We have major problems with our families in this country. Approximately 40 per cent of households are headed by a single woman and in many families children are growing up without good male role models.

Jamaica has a high level of teenage pregnancy which simply means many young people are having children and not being properly equipped to be good parents. Poor parenting skills are associated with child abuse and high-risk behaviour among young people, such as violence, aggression and substance abuse. Research has shown that parenting programmes are effective in improving the functioning of families and the emotional and behavioural adjustment of children.

There are many efforts in place in Jamaica to promote better parenting. These efforts must be strengthened and expanded to have a more sustained and meaningful effect.

Early childhood education: The early childhood period represents the formative and most impressionable period of our development. The quality of education, exposures and life skills during the early childhood period impact our future development. The work of the Early Childhood Commission must be lauded as they address some of these issues. Finally, we have started to get it right in one area in this country.

Youth education: As a society, we are concerned about the risk behaviours displayed by young people, especially males. These risk behaviours include alcohol and substance abuse, involvement in violent and antisocial behaviour and high risk sexual behaviour.

More prevention programmes need to be put in place to reduce risk behaviour among the youth and there is clearly a need to develop and implement more programmes that will rescue our young men. We need to place greater emphasis on programmes that develop life skill education such as decision making skills, problem solving skills, conflict resolution skills and civic responsibility.

Change social norms: This country is one in which the social norms are distorted. There is wide availability and easy accessibility to alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. In many communities, there is easy access to guns. If we are going to change this country we must create economically sustainable and safe communities.

We must put policies and programmes in place to change community norms towards drugs, guns and violence. Supportive law enforcement is critical to this process. The grim reality is that we will not achieve economic development without dealing with the lawlessness, crime and drug culture.

Economic development will not take place by chance. As a society, we have to decide what we want and be prepared to tackle the problems from many angles.

Exposures and life skills during the early childhood period impact Jamaica's future development. Here, children from the Smurfs Early Childhood Centre enjoy the cool breeze on a day out at the Bank of Jamaica, recently. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer