Nine year old Ngozi Wright (center) engages in conversation with (from right) Minister of Education and Youth Hon. Fayval Williams, Children’s Advocate and National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons Diahann Gordon Harrison, Chief Executive Officer, Child Protection and Family Services Agency, Rosalee Gage Grey and UNICEF Representative Mariko Kagoshima. Occasion was the opening ceremony for the National Policy Dialogue on Ending Violence Against Children at the AC Marriot Hotel in Kingston on Wednesday (May 25).

The Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce is working towards establishing a Bamboo Industrial Demonstration Facility.

Funding for the project is to be provided through bilateral partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Jamaica.

State Minister in the Ministry, Dr. the Hon. Norman Dunn said it is expected that full project approval will be granted by August.

He said the ministry is focused on developing bamboo as a versatile, environmentally friendly commodity with considerable global growth potential.

“The facility will be the first of its kind in the Caribbean. As we work to increase support to the bamboo industry, we have engaged the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to recognise bamboo as an industrial crop under the Agricultural Produce Act,” he informed.

“This will allow for the provision of technical support and extension services for this critical new industrial crop,” Dr. Dunn added.

Jamaica has developed bamboo charcoal and charcoal products, furniture, straws, souvenirs and utensils.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) and the National Housing Trust (NHT) are partnering on a project to utilise bamboo for construction of affordable housing.

In 2012, Jamaica became the 38th member of the International Organization for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) which now has 48 member states. The BSJ is the local focal point for INBAR, an intergovernmental development organisation that promotes environmentally sustainable development using bamboo and rattan.

INBAR works with countries to focus the use of bamboo and rattan as strategic resources that support sustainable development and their green economy action plans.

Office: 58a Half Way Tree Road, Kingston 10 Jamaica, W.I

Tel: 1 (876) 926-3590-4 1 (876) 926-3740-6

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Initial Officer Training Programme (IOTP) provides basic military officer training to Officer Cadets (OCdts) and their equivalents from law enforcement and uniformed services. The programme falls within the tactical level of the Professional Military Education (PME) framework of armed forces and is modelled from the Royal Military Academy Sandhursts’ (RMAS) Commissioning Course.  It was designed with the direct support and guidance of RMAS Instructing and Support Staff.

Traditionally, the Jamaica Defence Force’s (JDF) longstanding partnerships with militaries across the world has seen its OCdts being trained in academies in the following countries: United States, England, Canada, China and India. Upon the return of OCdts to the JDF, there is a requirement for doctrine and operating procedure standardization due to the varying concepts and differing contents of the training they had undergone. This is normally done at the Unit level and later, through a Young Officers’ Course. The advent of COVID-19 added a new level of complexity to travel, thus negatively affecting the process of sending OCdts overseas. Additionally, the ongoing expansion and restructuring of the Force to cauterize the ballooning threats to national security has caused an increased demand for newly commissioned Second Lieutenants.

Due to the carefully adapted military and academic curricula, IOTP serves as the course to treat with the aforementioned considerations. The methodology used addresses each issue directly and the course, through the delivery of a bespoke training syllabus, is fit for the JDF and is also relevant to the militaries and organizations within the Caribbean region and in other parts of the world.

Having the RMAS approach to training at its core, IOTP is designed with a syllabus that sees male and female integration throughout training. The course focusses on developing military skills and command with a leadership ‘golden thread’. The course structure allows the Instructing Staff to educate, build, develop and scrutinize an OCdt’s ability to decide and communicate accurately and ethically while under pressure and or stress. The expectation is that on commissioning, an OCdt will be fully cognizant of the responsibilities and personal conditions that being an Officer imposes upon them. The product of the IOTP will be an ethical and robust Officer who has the knowledge, skills, attitudes and intellectual agility to adapt their decision-making process and approach to any environment.

The home of IOTP is the Caribbean Military Academy (CMA) Newcastle, which is located at the Newcastle Hill Station, St Andrew, Jamaica.

Nestled in the cool hills of upper St Andrew and amidst beautiful trees, ferns, ground orchids, delicate wild flowers and a profusion of ginger lilies, is the Newcastle

Training Depot founded in 1841 by Major General Sir William Maynard Gomm (later Field Marshall). Gomm, a veteran of the wars against revolutionary France and Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica from 1840 to 1841, relentlessly badgered the War Office in London to establish a mountain station for British soldiers in Jamaica soon after taking up his post.

The idea of the hill station was first raised by Gomm in a letter dated April 7, 1840 to Governor Sir Charles Metcalfe. Gomm pointed out that while Up Park Camp was an ideal location for a barracks, it was subject to the ravages of yellow fever. In Jamaica the

British garrison was stationed on the plain at Up Park Camp, Stony Hill, Fort Augusta and Port Royal. Here, on the average, 1 soldier died every 2½ days. According to Russell, the year 1838 was considered a ‘good’ year: only 91 men died. In 1839, 110 men perished and in the following year 121. Initially, the British government was conservative in approving a hill station for the troops in Jamaica. They were concerned about the expense of the venture.

In May 1841, London finally sanctioned Gomm’s efforts to build what is thought to be the first permanent mountain station in the British West Indies at Newcastle. The site selected was a coffee plantation protruding from the southern face of the grand ridge of the Blue Mountains. The British government paid £4,230 for the Newcastle site.

At the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), life at Newcastle changed a little. The British regiment was replaced by Canadian regiments which remained at Newcastle for the duration of the war. With hostilities over in 1945, the Canadians left and once again a British battalion was stationed there.

In 1958, the West Indies Federation was founded and the infantry regiments of the various Caribbean islands were disbanded and reorganized into the West India Regiment. Newcastle became a training depot, training recruits from all over the West Indies as part of the

newly formed West Indies Federation. In 1962 when Federation was disbanded, the West India Regiment was also disbanded. Jamaica simultaneously sought her independence, which was achieved on August 6, 1962. With independence, Newcastle was given to the Jamaican government as part of a general settlement of all military lands in Jamaica.