KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – Nine Jamaican leaders are currently participating in the Caribbean-Canada Emerging Leaders’ Dialogue (CCELD), which started yesterday in Ottawa, Canada.

The programme, geared at building the capacity of leaders selected from business, Government, labour and civil society across the Caribbean and Canada, will run for two weeks until October 4, under the theme: ‘Leading through Innovation and Transformation’.

The participants are: Head of Business Information Services at Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Delaine Patricia Morgan; Regional Director of Retail Distribution at Scotiabank, Maya Johnston; Legal, Regulatory and Company Secretary at FLOW, Rochelle Cameron; Team Leader in the Infrastructure and Professional Services Department at Massy Technologies (Infocam) Jamaica, Shane Barnes; Human Resource and Administration Manager at the National EXIM Bank, Stephanie Murdock; General Secretary of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), Tiffonie Eleanor Powell; Senior Policy Research Officer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Jermaine Nairne; Manager of Palmer Jamaica Inc, Adrian Bailey-Hay; and Commanding Officer in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Coast Guard, Cdr Antonette Wemyss-Gorman.

The Jamaicans are among 60 participants from across the region and Canada.

Chairperson of the CCELD Local Planning Committee, Lisa Bell, who was among the 2011 cohort of participants, said the vision of the programme is to take a proactive role in the development of emerging leaders.

“As an alumnus of the programme, one of its tenets is to teach strong leadership skills, as well as to be a part of the change in the paradigm in your respective country. In other words, you play an active role in not only becoming a leader but in developing leaders,” said Bell, who is also managing director of National EXIM Bank.

The initiative provides participants with intensive learning and networking opportunities and develops peer-to-peer critical leadership competencies, including the ability to collaborate, integrate and think critically.

The participants are exposed to leaders at the highest levels, whom they will interact with at specific locations in Canada and the Caribbean on study tours over the course of the programme. The aim is to expand the participants’ knowledge of fundamental global and local issues, while giving insight into the thinking of top leaders.

The closing programme will be held in Kingston from October 1 to 4, and will include a visit by President and patron of CCELD, Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne.

The governor-general and the prime minister are expected to be in attendance at the closing ceremony, as well as Government ministers from Jamaica and across the region. 

The CCELD, built on the proven model of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conferences, was established in 1956.

Previous participants from Jamaica include: Former Prime Minister, Hon. Hugh Shearer; High Commissioner to London, Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet Assamba; Head of the JCSA, O’Neil Grant; and Head of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney.