A Journey to the Point Fortin Master Plan. (part 2)

Resources.

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Previous Articles.

 Previous discussions on the way forward for our community presented the idea that our master plan must be built on five pillars, namely; vision, resources, funding, succession planning and risk management. There have been many voices articulating vision for our community and our country, including this writer and so I will not attempt to rehash those ideas here. What then can we say about resources?

 There is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein that says, “the significant problems we face today cannot be solved by the same thinking that caused them in the first place” (my own paraphrasing). This therefore introduces the question of how do we match the right resources to realize the vision we have for ourselves? The history of our community and country is littered with situations where “man and moment meet” but “man” is not up to the moment. How then, do we select leaders, social technicians and change agents for our communities and our nation?

 A lot of us see virtue in popular elections and charismatic campaigning and such approaches may have helped us in ’56 and ’86 but the fact of the matter is, that the most popular are not usually the most effective. Therefore the question of talent and competence must arise as we seek to take our community forward. This is nothing new; you and I practice the principle of talent and competence in our daily lives all the time. When we have to save our money, we look for a solid institution with a good track record before depositing our money in the bank. In that regard we first define the talent and competence required of our bankers before placing our money in their vaults. Which of us, dying of a heart attack and in need of a doctor would care if the cardiologist is the most popular guy in the world or if “he drinks with the boys”, rather we would want the person who has studied hard and who has honed and practiced his trade a few times over. Again the principle at work here is, I understand the problem, I determine the competence and the talent needed to solve it and then I seek out the person(s) who match that competence to execute the solution.

 How then is such a principle translated to our current situation? Our community is poised at this time on the threshold of an industrial expansion involving aluminum, LNG and service industries. We need entrepreneurs, skilled labour, engineers, finance professionals and visionary civic leaders who can bring all these talents together into a harmonized effort at community and nation building. We therefore – having understood the problem – need to define what is required of our leaders (for instance). Do they have the experience in researching and problem solving as evidenced in advanced studies and degrees, have they lead teams of people in the past with the success of integrating a team for results? This is no simple task and the bigger question is who presides over such a selection process to ensure that it works right.

 Maybe we can visualize the significance of the task by considering the analogy of a football game. Let us suppose that some aliens landed in Point Fortin and said to us that the whole south western peninsula will be destroyed unless we can beat them in a football match. Additionally they indicate that we can use any players, both past and present to play against them. Clearly the future of our community will not be trusted to a few guys who come to us “cap in hand” and bottle in the next, laughingly asking to play on the team. No! No! No! In such a desperate situation only the best team will be selected, including Dilly, Archie, Carrington, Cave, Furlonge etc. Why? Because their demonstrated talents and competences reveal candidates worthy of consideration.

 In our real world situation, however, a group of political neophytes with no credentials in academia or professionalism sits in rooms and screens their best candidates and then fosters those persons on us as credible. Is it any wonder then that our community building efforts are plagued with infantile initiatives like playfields and cultural halls while an industrial explosion lies at our doorsteps?

 The time has come for the community to develop a community nominating committee to screen leaders against the competency needs of the community and in a town meeting or such similar forum allow such individuals to present their ideas, positions and plans to the community for scrutiny before we even subject them to democratic elections. More importantly, the revision of the local government system of governance must allow for full time technocrats in our local councils who can ensure continuity of vision and who are competent enough to administer and keep alive the vision of our community. I am confident that Dilly and company -like Michael Jordan in the movie Space Jam - can defeat any alien football team, but the more important question is who will be selected for our community and national leadership to ensure that we defeat the alien forces of poverty, illiteracy, crime, delinquency, unemployment and non-sustainable development?

 How then do we create a cadre of young people who are sensitive enough to the issues bombarding our communities and who will dedicate themselves to making a difference right here in our country. At this point it is again worth saying that as popular as anniversary celebrations are and as entertaining as it is to hear “soca” morning, noon and night, such activities will not provide an atmosphere of learning to develop our leaders of tomorrow.

 There is need for initiatives on a few fronts. First the schools, where our youth need to know the history of their community and the heights of industrial development achieved here in the past so that newcomers are seen in proper context. They (our youth) need to appreciate the dynamics of the development of our natural resources in a sustainable and environmentally secure model. Their school projects and debated must be centered on the experiences of the community and the issues and challenges faced today, they must have an idea of the skills and competences required in the future, so as to fashion their educational inclinations and aspirations.

 Beyond the schools there is a need to woo the appropriate tertiary education institutions to set up shop in Point Fortin. In fact present signs indicating that COSTATT is on the way are heartening but the curriculum development for these organizations must be rooted in the master plan for the communities.

 Finally we need our own community newspaper to augment our community radio station so as to allow discussion of the issues and also to facilitate town meetings and dispassionate discussions on the development plans.

 There is a key spin-off from such a climate for discussion and learning and that is accountability. It would be very difficult for any leader in the community to adopt an aloof posture in an environment of challenge and debate that forces accountability to the people. It is only when the baby bird is throw into the air will it fly and our community needs to thrown into and atmosphere of debate and learning that allows our young leaders to soar to the heights required for our development.

 Funding.

To be continued.

 Fitzroy_harewood@yahoo.com