RECORDING artiste Yaksta, the self-proclaimed ‘Bush Lawd from St Mary’, has teamed up with micro finance entity Access Financial Services which recently launched a poverty reduction programme designed to empower Jamaicans to lift their own standard of living.

Dubbed Access Ability, the programme helps participants to determine where they are on the poverty continuum and create a life map to get them to where they want to be.

“I heard about the programme, and I fell in love with it. Access Ability is about mobility, and where I’m from there’s a lot of stagnation so we welcome it. Every mobilisation starts with a mindset and an idea, and this is a great idea. We’re seeing a better future, a brighter Jamaica,” Yaksta told attendees at the Access Ability launch event recently.

Yaksta dropped some of his more popular songs at the launch, punctuated by statements pressing home his message of: “Assets over hype.”

Declaring that Jamaica is in a “mental crisis caused by the mindset of the mentors”, Yaksta suggested that meaningful change will only happen when young people are shown better examples by which to live.

“Di youth emulate what they see; and what they emulate they try to modify, and that sometimes leads to disaster. I decided that I wouldn’t go the usual route of gun and violent lyrics. People say crime sells but crime kills, that’s all I know — ah dead body come from crime. When I see initiatives like these, like Access and several others, I feel I have to add my own input to support it,” said Yaksta.

Keynote speaker at the event, Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie also had commendations for the programme.

“It has the potential for major impact in our communities, and we want to thank Access Financial and other private sector companies who are doing their part to bring about the change we want to see in Jamaica.”

Access Ability is the local version of a global initiative called Poverty Stoplight, founded by Fundación Paraguay, that has already been rolled out in almost 50 countries. It’s designed to activate the potential of Jamaican families and communities to lift themselves out of poverty.

Like the Poverty Stoplight, it uses a self-evaluation survey tool which incorporates questions across six dimensions, allowing families to define specifics around what it means to ‘not be poor’.

Survey participants will assess their status in the key areas of income and education, housing and infrastructure, education and culture, and health and environment, among others.

Administered on a tablet, the easy-to-use tool breaks down the key areas into relatable indicators that are illustrated as images representing situations that define extreme poverty (red), poverty (yellow), and non-poverty (green).

“We want more families to move from red to yellow and green. Beyond its ability to empower families, Access Ability is already creating a network of stakeholders — referred to as solutions providers — to help support the development of families and implement the actions on their individual life map, which charts the way forward.

“We’ve invited several government and private sector organisations to join this collaborative effort to move our people forward on their own terms,” said Access Financial Chief Executive Officer Hugh Campbell.