Montego Bay, St James – Philanthropists from all over the region on Wednesday conceded the need to copy the Mexican government’s remittance financial incentive project, which sees a portion of each dollar remitted to that country going to support a specially identified local project.

“This is an example that we should seek to replicate in the region to get our Diaspora more involved in the development of our countries,” said Earl Jarrett, general manager of the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS).

Jarrett was addressing approximately 40 of the more than 100 participants at the second Caribbean Philanthropy conference being hosted by the University of the West Indies’ Development and Endowment Fund and the Washington-based National Center for Black Philanthropy Incorporated.

The conference, which started on Tuesday, ends today.

Jarrett said that in 2003, the Mexican government increased its match to the remittances three to one. Consequently, US$20 million was remitted to support 308 such projects.

The group of participants included UWI’s Dr Hopeton Dunn, who highlighted the need for qualitative studies to ascertain how much of the approximately US$1.4 billion that Jamaica receives in remittances is attributable to philanthrophy.

But Jarrett, who noted that there were no measures in place to evaluate the true impact of remittance philanthrophy on the economy, had earlier underscored the need to build an institutional framework to encourage a formal type of philanthrophy.

Philanthrophy, which is defined as the effort of inclination to increase the well-being of humans through charity, is executed in many forms through various charities which are participating in the conference with a view to promoting their causes more efficiently.