Lessons from the Re-Birth Project ... 1

After reading our article entitled Brand Jamaica Needs Backitive a prominent local business man invited our team to a meeting. Like us, he sees Brand Jamaica as a multi-dimensional, and resilient brand, but laments Jamaica’s inability to capitalise on its brand equity - a value transfer process with the potential to significantly influence our country’s economy, development and sustainable competitiveness. Recognising the opportunities being missed, the article called for government support, public-private partnerships, political integrity and better parenting, to deal with among other things, the deterioration of values, attitudes and the spiralling crime rate which are major setbacks to developing Jamaica’s brand equity.

This gentleman’s challenge to the team: “How are you going to take action?”

Melody Cammock-Gayle, co-founder of the Re-Birth Project 

gives an Overview of the programme during the Awards Ceremony 

held at the Spanish Court Hotel in June. 

The team went to the drawing board, and crafted The Re-Birth Project, an intervention initiative designed to influence positive attitudes and reform behaviour of 20 at-risk high school students, aged 13-15 years. Over nine-weeks, these teenagers from the Tivoli Gardens and Norman Manley High Schools, along with their parents attended developmental workshops which employed protective/preventative strategies aimed at building personal resilience and encouraged the youth to strive for excellence, while providing parents with the resources to best support their children to be positively different.

As we prepare for the second phase of the Re-Birth Project, Phase one ran from March-June 2014, I’d like to share some insights we gained from the experience:

1. One person CAN exert change

According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, at the end of 2013, the population of Jamaica stood at 2,717,991. When one thinks about ‘rebuilding’ Jamaica by changing values of attitudes, reaching 2.5 million people seems like such a mammoth undertaking, it stops you in your tracks and regulates you to just sitting on the sidelines and complaining. Yet the challenge from one man, propelled our team from Maverick Communications & Associates (MC&A), plus a team of caring resource persons to touch 40 lives, who continue to influence their community. Therefore a small core of committed persons...can start helping to make Jamaica’s well needed difference.

2. Any intervention programme for children must include parents and teachers/schools 

Our initial planning included only the children. After all, they were the ones in need of behaviour modification. However, after a discussion with Dr. Patrece Charles-Freeman, CEO, National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), we were encouraged to look at a tripartite model which included the children, parents and school/teachers. This, she explained was now the ministry’s approach. It made sense. We realised it didn’t matter how much good we taught these teengers in four hours, every other Saturday, if they went back to a home and community that were constantly displaying contrary values and attitudes. It would be pointless. We needed reinforcement from the home and at school.

Daniel, a Tivoli Gardens High School student shares with the group what he learnt about
Avoiding Temptation in the student session. The session was conducted by Carol Narcisse.

3. Resilience

When a child is exposed to risk factors such as maltreatment, poor parenting, violence and poverty, he or she is more likely to be propelled on a trajectory towards poor academic, social and behavioural functioning. Still, some adolescents develop into productive aspiring young adults despite facing challenging circumstances,while others experiencing similar circumstances constantly struggle with depression, behavioural issues, anxiety or lack of self confidence. Studies show however that many external and internal factors help to determine resilient functioning - the ability to adapt positively despite adversity. Some of these include: good parent-child relationships, a positive school climate, self-esteem and self efficacy in at least one domain of life, planning skills, and a warm, close personal relationship with an adult.

As we tried to develop the best possible objective programme, we grappled with identifying how and which protective factors may contribute to positive outcomes, develop resilience and how it could potentially be enhanced over the nine-week period. Researching and determining the mechanisms behind resilience we knew we needed the best behaviour modification facilitators - (Althea Bailey, Carol Narcisse, Dr. Charles-Freeman, Marcia Chen, Georgia Lewis Scott, Lloyd Maxwell, Jamaica Parent School (JAMPAS), Sgt. Hodel Harris) in their respective field and the most impressive motivational speakers (Glen Christian, Marcus Steele, Poye Robinson, Kevin Wallen, Kemesha Kelly, Mark Chisholm, Rodney Bent, Joylene Griffiths-Irving, Tamian Beckford, Tanisha Esman), who could stir our 13-15 year-olds into wanting to aspire for greatness, change their trajectory, and instead be self-directed into a more positive direction.

To Be Continued ….

... join us next week for Part 2.