JARD Emphasises Importance of RIM Programme

The Jamaica Archives and Records Department (JARD) is underscoring the importance of the Records and Information Management (RIM) programme, geared towards enhancing the efficiency, transparency and developmental goals of Jamaica.

The programme, borne out of the 2018 Cabinet-approved records and information management policy, is set to standardise practices across all ministries, departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Senior Archivist at JARD, Alecia Litchmore, emphasised to JIS News the importance of the RIM programme in achieving uniformity in the public sector and compliance with the 2018 policy.

“The programme is really to assist ministries, departments and agencies with the implementation of the 2018 policy. The programme is so important because what we had is different ministries, departments and agencies having different practices and so to have standardisation right across the GOJ, the programme will assist each ministry, department and agency with having a uniformed system where everyone is practising the same things, and we don’t have the different variations across government,” she said.

Mrs. Litchmore added that the programme is aimed not only at compliance but also at supporting transparency, good governance and effective public service, in keeping with Jamaica’s goals under the Vision 2030 Initiative.

“It supports the Goal 16, peace, justice and strong institutions, and Goal 9, which speaks to industry, innovation and infrastructure. From creation to disposition, we have to think about how we dispose of records when we reach that stage of the cycle. So, the RIM programme essentially assists ministries, departments and agencies in doing this,” Mrs. Litchmore said.

Various programmes and sub-programmes have also been designed to support the goals of RIM, with further innovations in the works.

“The Access to Information Act, which speaks to transparency and access to government records, supports RIM… . There are some programmes by E-Gov Jamaica looking at digital transformation of the different ministries, departments and agencies and it also supports having cloud computing and storage for different ministries, departments and agencies. We’re in dialogue with E-Gov Jamaica in terms of having a standard system in terms of having electronic records management,” Mrs. Litchmore told JIS News.