JAMP

CATEGORY: Special Award: Public Service

A love for public service, a desire to combat the nine-day wonder response to issues of national importance, the need to hold the Government accountable and empower fellow Jamaicans, led Jeanette Calder to form the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP) in 2019.

JAMP is being recognised with a Special Award in the category of Public Service by the RJRGLEANER Honour Awards for 2021, for its fact-based initiatives to improve public accountability through outreach, advocacy, and transparent monitoring.

Calder, the executive director, recounted that as an architect, she ended up in public service in the housing ministry years ago because of a downturn in the construction industry.

“I thought, let me wait it out in government but I fell completely in love with the possibilities of government,” she explained, adding that she has a lot of faith in two institutions – the Church and the Government.

She said the idea that one or two leaders, by virtue of signing specific documents, could change the lives of all Jamaicans, either for the better or the worse, was fascinating.

Further, Calder said the ability to influence such a policymaker was also attractive.

“It wasn’t good enough for me to just see how I could help in my own way, as an individual. I wanted to be a part of this machinery called the Government but it was a broken machine. Three months later, something very unusual took place and at the time I didn’t know it was unusual,” she said, sharing that the housing minister was removed from the Cabinet and the permanent secretary from his job.

That situation made her believe that there was a system of accountability but Calder said it took another decade for a similar action to occur, but she saw that it was possible.

“I saw decisions that were made by previous ministers of government that were based on nothing but politics. I saw the wastage of resources, and I was deeply impacted by that waste and what amounted to corruption in many instances,” she said of her tenure in government.

Calder also saw general elections as a job recruitment process, with at least 126 Jamaicans applying for the post of Member of Parliament on each occasion.

She explained that after starting JAMP, “When I recognised that I am now an employer, my posture changed immediately. I have to monitor what my employees are doing, I have to hold my employees to account and that’s the mindset shift that I had that resulted in the birth of the trackers that JAMP now has.”

On its website https://www.jampja.org/, JAMP runs a Member of Parliament Tracker, a Legislative Tracker and an Account-A-Meter – digital accountability tools that allow Jamaicans to keep track of what’s happening in government as well as any breaches of government policy and regulations.

Calder described the Access to Information Act (ATI) as the spine of JAMP’s initiatives – “that gift that came from the Government”.

She shared that she receives responses for up to 70 per cent of ATI requests submitted.

In its pursuit of fact-based initiatives to improve public accountability, JAMP has encountered challenges such as a lacking in the talent pool in Jamaica. Finding employees who regard it as more than just a job, and consultants who deliver on their commitments are among her primary issues.

“For an organisation that was trying to build integrity, integrity, or the lack thereof, in our space has actually been one of our biggest challenges,” she disclosed.

JAMP was born six months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Jamaica, and as a result, Calder said the opportunity to engage the Government at its best was not available.

The non-government organisation has got international validation from the European Union, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and International Budget Partnership.

“What this is signalling to Jamaica is that if we get this right – Government partnering like this with citizens – Jamaica can export a governance tool that other jurisdictions are in need of,” Calder remarked.

INTERESTING FACTS

• JAMP was conceived as a response to citizens’ frustration about the nine-day wonder culture, especially regarding important national issues.

• JAMP was inspired by the work of advocates in the 1930s who focused on improving governance and the right to self-determination for Jamaica.

• The faith and selflessness of Aggie Bernard that changed the history of Jamaica in 1938 is JAMP’s greatest inspiration.

• The Gleaner Archives is one of JAMP’s favourite resources to understand the context and the history of the work it does.

• The non-government organisation works from the conviction that ALL the ingredients needed for better governance are already in place, but what is missing are engaged, tenacious citizens.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS

• For JAMP, nothing is more rewarding than when citizens say “your work gives me hope”.

• JAMP has received support and validation of its work from international bodies, including the European Union.

• Receiving a RJRGLEANER Honour Award.

• One of the few civil society organisations in the world to collaborate with the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and for public sector transformation.

• Interest from Caribbean islands in adopting JAMP’s digital accountability tools.

BUCKET LIST

• A new Constitution for Jamaica that makes meaningful room for the will and contribution of its people in decision-making.

• To move Jamaica’s score on the Corruption Perception Index from 44/100 to 60/100 in the next seven years.

• To inspire one per cent of the population (30,000) to regularly engage and monitor Government and Parliament with JAMP’s tools.

• A commitment to accountability that sees all public officials who breach regulations and laws dismissed and put before the court in a timely manner.

• A Jamaica that is not just famous for its musicians and athletes, but is recognised as having the “most courteous and caring” people on the planet.