Just six months into their two-year tenure, the Jamaica House fellows are receiving high praise for the substantial contribution they have been making thus far to national development.

Chief technical director in the Office of the Prime Minister, Jacqueline Lynch-Stewart, noted that this first cohort of Jamaica House fellows has “proven… to be more than valuable to the process of development and growth”.

“We are delighted at the enthusiasm they have displayed over the past six or so months when they all came on board in terms of attacking the problems which naturally face us, and coming to the table with new, fresh ideas. We think that this augurs well for subsequent iteration from the programme,” she said.

Lynch-Stewart was addressing the inaugural think tank initiative of the Jamaica House Fellowship Programme at Jamaica House on Tuesday.

She noted that the programme is the brainchild of Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who wanted to give an opportunity to young professionals to participate in national development and governance at the highest policy level.

For Team Lead Mark Tracey, the contribution of the fellows has been significant and “overwhelming”. He is of the opinion that the programme is one of the best thought-out initiatives that have been introduced in a long time, which presents young, bright individuals with the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to the country’s governance.

“What it does is introduce some minds into Government, and we have presented them with a canvas that is clear and open for them to paint a portrait on how we can help the economy,” he said.

Tracey noted that the think tank initiative will be a quarterly forum to which prominent leaders will be invited to make presentations and have discussions on various topics.

These sessions, he said, are intended to “help us (the fellows) to understand further and push the growth envelope, and the overall thrust towards growth, in a meaningful and very practical way”.

“This is not (merely) a theoretical construct to just have talking take place. We will take a lot of the questions (and discussions) from this and (come up with appropriate) initiatives going forward,” he said.

The guest presenter for this first session was co-chair of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee, Keith Duncan, who presented on the topic ‘Jamaica’s Growth Agenda and Citizen Participation: Why does it matter and how, so we ensure there is citizen inclusion?’.

Eight Jamaica House fellows were selected earlier this year following a rigorous process that started in June 2016.

The Jamaica House Fellowship Programme has the strategic objective of encouraging the practical involvement of young people in the governance and policy decision-making processes.

It offers exceptionally talented and motivated young Jamaicans the opportunity to work on, support and implement high-priority initiatives and objectives.

The fellows are expected to meet on a regular basis, create reports to be reviewed, and have personal interaction with the prime minister, portfolio ministers, and senior personnel in Government.

They are also required to achieve key performance indicators on special projects to which they have been assigned.