Vision & Volunteerism
Preface
For this tenth Grace, Kennedy Foundation Lecture, following a digression in 1997 when the spotlight focused on political issues, with 'Westminster Style Democracy - The Jamaican Experience', we return to a discussion of a significant social subject: 'Vision and Volunteerism: Reviving Volunteerism in Jamaica'. The Lecturer, distinguished anthropologist Dr. Don Robotham, begins by portraying the context of current social conditions in Jamaica: an escalating crime rate, in-discipline, deteriorating services, the skewedness of income distribution, the polarized divisiveness of the society. In his definition of 'volunteerism' he emphasizes the critical importance of the moral element and that the term applies not only to individuals but also to 'NFPOS', that is, not for profit organizations. While agreeing that the spirit of volunteerism has declined, he does not consider its condition terminal. Outlining four periods of Jamaican history when this spirit was at its height, he emphasizes the powerful cultural traditions bequeathed to Jamaica's culture by Africa. In making a case for a programme for 'manufacturing' volunteerism, Dr. Robotham calls for the development of voluntary community organizations and for a real public-private sector partnership; but it is imperative that these arrangements should be founded on a non-partisan, non-ideological basis. The successful Change from Within project (which was supported by this Foundation) could serve as a launching pad for a formal system of volunteerism based in the schools; or it would, perhaps, be more feasible to begin at the tertiary level.
What is needed is a powerful unifying vision of a stable and prosperous Jamaica, guided by leadership which is all-inclusive and projects a new focus on issues which unite rather than those which divide us. Professor the Hon. Gladstone E. Mills, O.J., C.D. Chairman Grace, Kennedy Foundation
DR. DON ROBOTHAM The Grace, Kennedy Foundation is working through a list of
For this tenth Grace, Kennedy Foundation Lecture, following a digression in 1997 when the spotlight focused on political issues, with 'Westminster Style Democracy - The Jamaican Experience', we return to a discussion of a significant social subject: 'Vision and Volunteerism: Reviving Volunteerism in Jamaica'. The Lecturer, distinguished anthropologist Dr. Don Robotham, begins by portraying the context of current social conditions in Jamaica: an escalating crime rate, in-discipline, deteriorating services, the skewedness of income distribution, the polarized divisiveness of the society. In his definition of 'volunteerism' he emphasizes the critical importance of the moral element and that the term applies not only to individuals but also to 'NFPOS', that is, not for profit organizations. While agreeing that the spirit of volunteerism has declined, he does not consider its condition terminal. Outlining four periods of Jamaican history when this spirit was at its height, he emphasizes the powerful cultural traditions bequeathed to Jamaica's culture by Africa. In making a case for a programme for 'manufacturing' volunteerism, Dr. Robotham calls for the development of voluntary community organizations and for a real public-private sector partnership; but it is imperative that these arrangements should be founded on a non-partisan, non-ideological basis. The successful Change from Within project (which was supported by this Foundation) could serve as a launching pad for a formal system of volunteerism based in the schools; or it would, perhaps, be more feasible to begin at the tertiary level.
What is needed is a powerful unifying vision of a stable and prosperous Jamaica, guided by leadership which is all-inclusive and projects a new focus on issues which unite rather than those which divide us. Professor the Hon. Gladstone E. Mills, O.J., C.D. Chairman Grace, Kennedy Foundation
DR. DON ROBOTHAM The Grace, Kennedy Foundation is working through a list of