PIOJ Embarks on Public Education Campaign for Vision 2030

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has embarked on a public education campaign, aimed at capitalising on the traction and groundswell resonating with the country’s National Development Plan, Vision 2030 Jamaica.

Communication Specialist for Vision 2030 Jamaica in the PIOJ’s Plan Development Unit, Carmen Miller, informs that the Institute has entered into an initial six-month contract with the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), for development and implementation of the programme, which will commence early in 2012.

She tells JIS News that the partnership will yield the production of public service announcements, time signals, and crawlers for broadcast on both radio and television. These will be complemented with concise five-minute radio and television features providing information on various aspects of Vision 2030 Jamaica.

Vision 2030 Jamaica  is the country’s first long-term  national development plan, which aims at enabling  Jamaica to  achieve developed country status  by 2030.  It is  based  on a comprehensive vision:  “Jamaica, the place of choice  to live, work, raise families and do business.”

Additionally, the PIOJ is in the process of producing an information video which will outline the plan in greater detail.

“This will be a five to seven minutes feature packaged in one-minute segments, outlining key elements of the National Development Plan. There will be an introductory feature followed by mini features highlighting each of the National Goals. These we will use on television and YouTube, and when we convene community and other stakeholder meetings, with community groups, and in the classroom,” she explains, adding that brochures, posters and other printed materials and memorabilia are also being developed.

These initiatives will be complemented by a series of other activities, to be implemented over the next 12 months. They include essay, jingle and poster competitions, depicting the Vision 2030 theme, at the school, community, parish and national levels. These will be undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and other public, private and civil society partners.

Meanwhile, Ms. Miller says the PIOJ is currently in the process of finalizing the progress report detailing the first three years of implementation of Vision 2030 Jamaica, from 2009 to 2012.

She points out that the Medium Term Socio-Economic Policy Framework (MTF) is being used to implement the Plan, which sees activities being executed in three-year phases.

The MTF is the main mechanism for translating the goals and outcomes of Vision 2030 Jamaica into action. The Plan will be implemented through a series of seven consecutive three-yearly MTFs, which commenced during the 2009-2010 fiscal year and will run until 2029/2030.

The MTF for 2009 to 2012 outlines a prioritized package of policies, strategies and programmes aligned to the budget at the macro level that will be implemented primarily by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over the period.

Ms. Miller adds that the PIOJ is in the early stages of preparing the MTF for the second three-year period, covering 2012 to 2015. A series of consultations is slated to be held islandwide to discuss the priorities for the period, she tells JIS News.

“Pivotal to the process also, is the involvement of the Diaspora. We have had discussions with members of the Diaspora through the Diaspora Conferences which have been held in Jamaica, and recently with members in the United States. We are now trying to initiate ways in which we can collaborate on specific interventions, with all such groups in other parts of the world,” she says.

Noting the positive reception which the popular 88-page version of Vision 2030 Jamaica received when it was launched, Ms. Miller says there has been a groundswell of requests for the larger 400-plus page document.

“People were calling and asking for the document. Students across the country, who are engaged in research, are requesting the document, because its contents and focus areas are now central to their assignments. There is greater understanding by persons, of Vision 2030 Jamaica, and we are moving and ensuring that we get the document to them,” she says.  The Plan is also being infused into the planning of public, private and civil society entities across the country.

Ms Miller further tells JIS News that most copies of the original version have been sent to libraries, educational institutions, Ministries, Departments and Agencies; private sector stakeholders, and Jamaicans in the Diaspora.

The original and popular versions of the Plan have been complemented by the production of a Braille, and talking book format, the latter being an audio compilation. The talking book format, she says, can be accessed on the Library Association of Jamaica’s website through a link from the Vision 2030 Jamaica website at: www.pioj.gov.jm.

“All of the activities are aimed at heightening awareness of Vision 2030 Jamaica, and are also a call to action for the involvement of everyone in ensuring that Jamaica does become the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business,” Ms. Miller says.