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Draft Barbados Population Policy Available for FEEDBACK

The Barbados government is in the process of initiating another bold policy that without a doubt will be contentious. The draft policy prepared by the Barbados Population Commission was recently posted to the Barbados Government Information Service website to garner feedback from the public during the month of March 2023. What cannot be refuted is…

The Barbados government is in the process of initiating another bold policy that without a doubt will be contentious. The draft policy prepared by the Barbados Population Commission was recently posted to the Barbados Government Information Service website to garner feedback from the public during the month of March 2023.

What cannot be refuted is that Barbados is an ageing population, when this is coupled with a declining fertility rate – Houston, we have a problem. On the current trajectory the quality of the labour force; talent pool and revenue opportunity will be negatively impacted.

If there is a problem showing on the radar the controllers (policymakers) have a responsibility to work with stakeholders in civil society to solve. The Barbados Population Policy is meant to dispassionately analyze the current state of play to inform a policy to drive a sustainable society covering the period 2021-2040.

Barbadians at home or in the diaspora are vested in a relevant population policy. It is imperative therefore Barbadians take the opportunity to submit feedback on the draft documents available.

The blogmaster’s position, we need to be proactive and bold with decisions today to ensure a greater tomorrow for the next generation. It will call for astute decision making and planning to nurture the best country for our people notwithstanding our limited resources.

If our population is ageing drawdown on the social security pool gets worse if we do nothing. How do we infuse the labour pool with required talent to ensure competitiveness? There are social and changes to the environment in our ecosystem we also have to contend.

A tenet of the system of democracy we practice is that participation of the citizenry is integral to the process to determine the best outcome. See the documents posted by government to solicit feedback from the public.

Draft-Barbados-Population-Policy-for-public-consultation-1Download
Executive-Summary-on-the-draft-Barbados-Popualtion-Policy-for-public-consultation_v2Download

118 responses to “Draft Barbados Population Policy Available for FEEDBACK”

  1. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    All I just read is me me me me. You proved my point. Selfish individualism.
    You really are misguided and fooled by this economy the capitalists created. The capitalists wanted women out of the house and working because it meant more spending. Initially it was manufacturing jobs and they were surprised how well it worked so they went further and created useless jobs and pseudo careers for women (re Marketing, Advertising, Customer service, HR, administration) and then sold you the lie that life is about happiness and feeling good and marriage is only about love. Throw in the easing of access to credit and the lowering of interest rates and we have our current situation, living my best life (really should be lie).
    But continue beating those independent drums, I know where it ends, just go look at South Korea and Japan where they have crisis of lonely childless women and a birth rate below 1.0. Men know how to be alone it is nothing new but never in human history have women been alone in old age, never.

  2. Different Drum Avatar
    Different Drum

    “But continue beating those independent drums, I know where it ends”

    Different Drum / The Stone Poneys
    You and I travel to the beat of a different drum
    Oh, can’t you tell by the way I run
    Every time you make eyes at me? Whoa
    You cry and moan and say it will work out
    But honey child I’ve got my doubts
    You can’t see the forest for the trees

    So, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I knock it
    It’s just that I am not in the market
    For a boy who wants to love only me
    Yes, and I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t pretty
    All I’m saying’s I’m not ready for any person
    Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me, so

    Goodbye, I’ll be leavin’
    I see no sense in this cryin’ and grievin’
    We’ll both live a lot longer if you live without me

  3. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Oh Canada

    https://globalnews.ca/news/9525649/mexican-nationals-rescued-ontario-human-trafficking-ring/

  4. Wargeneral Avatar
    Wargeneral

    Lol, I knew this topic would bring forth intellectually bankrupt and xenophobic posters. Instead of reading the entire draft proposal and making constructive recommendations most on here choose to regurgitate tired rhetoric from online neo-Nazis.

  5. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    You can not make up this stuff! Barbados is now looking to import foreign bees in order to grow its apiculture industry.

    “Foreign bees needed to grow local apiculture industry
    Barbados may have to explore the option of importing bees if it wants to expand the apiculture industry.
    Senior Agricultural Officer Bret Taylor, speaking during the Estimates debates in the Lower House on Friday, said because local bees are aggressive, there may be a need to “bring in foreign bees”.
    “We may need to bring in queens that are not as aggressive and that are high producers here into Barbados, and that would be a factor as to how we go about it [increasing the bee population],” he said.
    Another key to expanding the industry, he said, is getting more people involved.
    According to Taylor, Barbados currently has approximately 738 hives being managed by 81 active beekeepers.
    “Only a few of those 81 beekeepers actually do it full time. There is one beekeeper who probably has about 200 hives himself, so the rest of the hives are spread across the 80 or so beekeepers that we have in the island,” he pointed out.
    Taylor said that while the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has trained approximately 366 persons over the past four years in beekeeping, the majority of them are not putting what they learned to use.
    He said 45 of those trainees were provided with complete beekeeping kits, but only 14 are active.
    “So there has been a slow uptake in apiculture. There have been challenges to persons who have done it. During that time we had Hurricane Elsa, we had the ash fall, we had even periods of drought, and then last year we had periods where we had lots of rain. Some of these factors affect the rearing of bees and production of honey,” Taylor explained.
    Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir agreed with Taylor that Barbados need “to source bees in order for us to get to the scale that we need to get to”.
    Meanwhile, Chief Agricultural Officer Keeley Holder said that while Barbados is now developing the industry, other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have been working to grow their apiculture sector.
    She said Guyana’s honey is now on supermarket shelves in Barbados while Grenada has won gold at the World Honey Show in the past.
    Holder said the Ministry has been working with the Apiculture Association of Barbados which has already identified forages for bees.
    “But to really start to push forward the apiculture industry, we need to be able to classify which of those are better for pollen, which are better for nectar, because then that informs the farmers who are getting into beekeeping, those who have land, which types of forages to plant, so that they can then increase the amount of forage that is available for the bees.
    “Additionally, as Mr Taylor indicated, there has been some indication that the bees that we have here are not the European bee so that has implications as well. The European honey bee would tend to have a hive of 50 000 to 60 000 bees. Bees that are more Africanized would tend to be about 10 000 to 12 000 in a hive,” she said.
    The Chief Agricultural Officer said last weekend the Ministry engaged members of the Apiculture Association of Barbados in discussions regarding beekeeping management and other challenges affecting the sector.”
    (AH) (Barbados Today)

  6. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2023/03/canada-opens-operations-centre-in-the-philippines-to-boost-global-immigration-processing-capacity.html

  7. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Who says that I am misguided? Some old fart with his brain in 1823? Whose needs matter in this society? Only those of men?

    I suggest that you are the one who is misguided, one-sided and in my case, totally derided!

    Who cares if capitalists wanted women working if women wanted to work? Are you suggesting that women do not know their own minds?

    Even my grandmother questioned why she was not sent to secondary school when her brother was sent to Combermere. My grandmother would have 104 years old, had she lived. NOBODY taught her that! It was just what she WANTED!

    And here was the answer given,
    “Your brother is going to get married and have a maid. You are going to get married and BE a maid.”

    Have you ever been confined to a house all day, cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing? It is not at all stimulating for many women and can be lonely too.

    There are solutions to the problem without confining women to what brings them little or no satisfaction! You just do not wish to consider them.

    Women deserve to self-actualise! No old fart has the right to tell them otherwise while he goes off to self-actualise!

    Be off do!

  8. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    The solution to the population problem, according to some old fart, is for women to retreat from the positions afforded to them by virtue of their education and allow all positions of power to be occupied by men….AGAIN!

    And what do you think would happen then?

    Well…men would promptly return us to a time when women had no damn say in any damn thing.

    Barefoot and pregnant, waiting hand and foot on some igrunt man that claims everything is his because he is bringing in the money. And say one word in dissent and yuh would get yuh ass bust.

    And don’t bother calling the police because they would say it is a private matter between a man and his wife!

    We’ve been there and done that! Perish the thought!

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    Does it make sense debating a position that is provocative above substantive?

  10. David Avatar
    David

    https://barbadosunderground.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Population_policy.png

  11. David Avatar
    David

    Managed migration policy’ answer to population decline

    By Tony Best Barbados needs a carefully planned and managed migration strategy which pays attention to the needs and rights of women, while serving as a road map to continued upward economic and social mobility for everyone.
    The recommendation is coming from George Griffith, a population and family planning specialist who is also a social development advocate and consultant. He said this was critical as the country seeks to implement a policy aimed at reversing the decline in its population.
    He told the Sunday Sun that as the fertility rate remains at two children per woman, a figure below replacement level, Barbados should consider embracing a “managed migration policy” which keeps the doors open to families, and offers access to abortions, ready availability to high-quality and affordable antenatal and gynaecological services, effective health and education programmes delivered in a clientfriendly atmosphere, upgraded diversified birthing facilities, expanded day care and nursery school facilities, as well as providing special tax allowances to parents.
    Specifically, it should seek to attract highly-skilled, carefully-chosen and highly-motivated foreign individuals who can provide the country with the human resources it needs to propel development.
    “Reversing the falling population growth rate is not insurmountable,” insisted Griffith, a former Barbados consul general in New York. “The approach requires a high level of knowledge, skills and experience which are readily available to any government or society which is genuinely serious about committing to this delicate task. Women in Barbados, with their education, quality of life and opportunities, are not generally in the mood to have more than two children in the family. So what’s required is a comprehensive and compelling range of incentives that deal with bread-and-butter issues like education and health care for everyone.”
    Abortion services
    The package he proposes will include ready access to abortion services.
    “Long gone are the days when women were seen as passive bystanders in the reproductive process and were forced to endure pregnancies
    and child birth not because they wanted to, but because it was either considered good for the viability of the plantation or someone’s sexual gratification,” added Griffith, a retired former chief executive officer of the Barbados Family Planning Association.
    His comments come at a time when the Barbados Population Commission, headed by Roberta Clarke, recently unveiled its draft population policy that is accessible on the Barbados Government Information Service’s
    website.
    Among Griffith’s recommendations were:
    • Women must be able to decide how many children they want and when.
    • Education and access to services were inexplicably linked when it came to setting population goals, and articulating individual rights and privileges, especially for women.
    • Managed migration was one of the best answers to Barbados’ population questions, “given the (current) circumstances”.
    • Employment, housing and education for children, plus effective health services, must underpin the population strategy.
    • Barbados must be very selective about the people to whom it opens the immigration door.
    • The country wants people with skills, not drifters and others who are unable to contribute to its development.
    • The policy will be aimed at people with the “right attitudes” to work and resettlement.
    • Settlements must include rural and urban areas.
    Interestingly, as the Population Commission’s chairperson sees it, the first responsibility must be to people already in the country.
    “In relation to managing migration, we are saying that the first responsibility is to take care of those who are already here now, but that may require us to bring in people to help take care of those who are here now,” Clarke was quoted as saying. She was careful to insist that those who were entering Barbados would fill “unmet
    needs, not take away jobs”.
    With one of the lowest population growth rates in CARICOM but the highest United Nations human development ranking in the Caribbean, Barbados is viewed as a desirable place in which to live and raise children. Indeed, it is sometimes called the “Singapore of the Caribbean”, meaning that its pattern of economic and social development came closest to the successes of the Commonwealth member state in Asia.
    According to the draft population strategy, Barbados’ total population expanded by 24 per cent in the past 60 years. Since 1960 its birth and fertility rates fell below replacement levels. Offsetting that decline was a modest rise in immigration levels alongside a decline in outward migration of Barbadians.
    If Barbados’ fertility rate had remained steady at 2.1 children per woman in 2020, the population would have reached 360 000 and be on course to grow to an estimated 400 000 by 2050, according to experts.
    “It is clear that Barbadians don’t measure their country’s success by looking at how its Caribbean neighbours have done, but by what is taking place in the developed world,” Griffith said.

    Source: Nation

  12. John Avatar
    John

    This is interesting!!

  13. David Avatar
    David

    Immigration fuels Canada’s largest population growth of over 1 million – BBC News

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65047436

  14. David Avatar
    David

    Population Commission holds second town hall

    The draft Barbados Population Policy is aimed at combatting the declining population rate and the aging workforce through managed migration and the extension of the categories of persons able to apply for citizenship.
    The National Population Commission held its second town hall meeting at the Princess Margaret School, Six Roads, St Philip on Wednesday to consult the public on the strategies to be implemented and to address any lingering concerns.
    Chair of the National Population Commission (NPC), Roberta Clarke, said the policy would address several topical issues including social protection, gender equality and the care economy through child benefit subsidies, high-quality and accessible child care, affordable fertility treatments and support and benefits for caregivers.
    Some of the main findings from the data also suggested that the number of youth in the labour force had declined by almost 50 per cent. She added at present the rate of youth not in employment, education or training was approximately 18 per cent.
    Support to peers
    She said provisions would be made to encourage young people to provide more support to their peers who were either unemployed or not in training or
    educational institutions.
    “We are also talking about what we should do for Barbadians and non-nationals who are already here now so that they have a better chance of attaining their personal development goals. . . so we also made some recommendations about how you can support young people to get them into training, to get them back into education, to get them contributing to their communities,” she said.
    Clarke said the policy also called for educational reform in an effort to develop life skills like critical thinking and emotional intelligence.
    Measures would also be implemented to retain and repatriate Barbadians and to entice skilled persons to move into the country and reverse brain drain.
    Member of the NPC, Janelle Scantlebury-Mounsey, agreed that managed migration was another critical step to mitigating the issues of a declining population, adding that it was important to identify the gaps in the labour market and target those persons with the capacity to fill them.
    Areas needed
    “We would have had in our stakeholder consultations, members from the Ministry of Labour and through their research they would have identified the areas
    that they had seen that we need in Barbados persons coming in to fill those gaps,” she explained.
    Commissioner of the National Population Commission, Dr Yolanda Alleyne also addressed the issue of population redistribution.
    Alleyne said there would be a need for a revision of housing and urban centres to account for the placement of major development facilities in residential areas and the management of issues such as waste and water scarcity.
    Barbadians will also have until March 31 to submit their comments online. ( JK)

    Source: Nation

  15. David Avatar
    David

    Nation Editorial
    Well managed immigration policy needed
    Immigration, once ranked alongside tourism, sugar, foreign investment and offshore financial services as key pillars of Barbados’ economic growth, seems poised to return to the top tier of national priorities.
    But much will depend on if Government’s current thrust of reaching out aggressively to the Bajan diaspora succeeds. If implemented effectively and support is gained from nationals at home and abroad, it can make a substantial and positive difference to national development.
    In the decades following World War II and after Barbados’ independence in the 1960s, our immigration goal was straightforward: exporting unskilled but ambitious Barbadian labour to several of the world’s major metropolitan centres of Britain, United States and Canada.
    Designed to ease the island’s dense population rate and to accelerate the pace of remittances to families back home, the approach worked, enabling Bajans to emigrate so they could acquire highly honed skills, secure a sound education, buy real estate and other assets. That was until immigration regulations of their newly adopted countries changed radically.
    Today’s new immigration policy goal is different.
    It seeks to attract many Barbadians who had left earlier to return home and put their mountain of education, experience and human resources to their birthplace’s benefit. It also seeks to help them make sound financial investments “in the rock”.
    In addition, for those who have little interest in leaving their adopted lands, they can take advantage of opportunities by putting some of their disposable income into Barbados investments at “home”. Government bonds are a good example.
    An important factor is Barbados’ declining population, a problem identified by the country’s Population Commission headed by Roberta Clarke.
    As the commission and Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley explained recently, the population growth rate had fallen below the replacement level, a fact of life which, if not reversed, could hurt the country’s labour market needs and the needs of the National Insurance Scheme.
    However, Government isn’t thinking simply of luring people back home. It wants some overseas Barbadians with little interest in
    relocating to their birthplace to invest in Barbados bonds or by opening foreign exchange accounts that add resources to its foreign reserves.
    The bonds’ appeal can be traced to their competitive rates of return when compared with those of bank saving accounts interest rates in North America. They allow for easy access to people’s money.
    The emerging policy being articulated by the Prime Minister and the country’s diplomatic corps considers the diaspora as an important and valuable reservoir of human and financial resources that are urgently needed to help advance growth in the republic.
    Clearly, what Barbados needs is a well designed and managed immigration policy that taps into the diaspora while at the same time opening the immigration door even more to those interested in living in the world’s newest republic or contributing to its development We await the proposed new immigration bill which will no doubt be properly scrutinised by the public.


    Source: Nation

  16. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    There are three active post on BU which appear to be separate items, but they are really several ends of a twisted ball of twine that make up what we know as Barbados.

    The above article mentions the diaspora returning/investing in Barbados; the second article mentions Dale Marshall (Version2*) to “examine the criminal justice system” and the third article is the BAR Association Refutation of Version2’s claim that they are no lawyers’ complaints on Judicial delays.

    *Why Version2? Every new law or guidance propose by the AG has to be amended

    The three posts above will allow me to make a point that I have been trying to make for some time.

    The young diaspora,
    I have never discussed Barbados with my son, but from an early age he saw Barbados and Trinidad as just places for vacationing. I cannot tell you what is his current opinion , but I doubt that he sees Barbados as a viable alternative to his current domicile.

    Of course, there will be youngsters who would prefer to return to Barbados, but I suspect that most young men/women who have achieved a high standard of living/success elsewhere would not jump at the opportunity of return and live in Barbados. Don’t confuse a welcome stamper with young people of Bajan heritage.

    I suspect that young dark-skinned Bajans from the Diaspora would not be fully welcomed/respected in Barbados. Those of us without contacts or connections will not be encouraging our children to return and live there unless we are certain that they can exist independently (not dependent on cronyism, friends or some politicians).

    The old diaspora
    We read daily of folks from the diaspora being robbed by various citizens and lawyers in Barbados. To work hard and then return home and be robbed is not a pleasant future. I have already stated that folks from the diaspora are seen as prey by some segments of the society.

    We hear the talk of the Version2 and we see the words of the BAR Association, but when we look at decades of inaction/deception/excuses/lies we are fully aware that we are targeted. Their words have never matched their actions.

    Most folks in the diaspora will keep their pennies outside of Barbados, unless they are convinced that they will be protected from some segments of the society.

    The itemization of these issues shows that locals have fail to grasp the complexity of the ball of twine. Whilst they will pick at an end here and there, some of us are contented to sit on the sidelines, to watch and to comment

    Cute sounding phrases and initiatives always followed by inaction makes us wary of our ‘brothers and sisters’.

  17. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

    Not a B thing or a D thing. It’s we thing.

    It is sheer folly to believe that you can run the same con game over and over, as at some stage some victims will realize what is happening and refuse to continue to participate in the game.

    What is distressing is when the fraudsters believe that they can sweeten the notes and pull off the con game once again. Those who refuse to listen or participate will be seen as less than patriotic. Keep the phrase “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” to the front of your mind and do not let others bully you or let insinuations of a lack of patriotism blind you to the wickedness that is being perpetrated. Keep this in mind as you see the sweet talk, new initiatives and fancy footwork.

  18. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    My last post for today. This post was generate by the comment “Who cares what the US thinks?”

    Barbados
    Some of us only remember this part of the phrase “My country, right or wrong”. But the whole phrase is “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” It should be goal of every Barbadian to set it right and keep it right.

    We hide behind a set of meaningless phrases. We claim the we punch above our weight even when we see that others in our weight class are now punching just as hard as we do or even harder than we do.

    When a wrong is observed and cannot be denied we go to great efforts to point out the same wrong is also happening elsewhere. Do we believe that two wrongs makes it right?

    We would willingly accept praise from the US, but if a US report contains the slightest trace of a negative comment about Barbados, we will point out how bad and how wrong the US often is.

    We have good laws and processes, but we often do not enforce these laws.

    We have a two- or three- tier system of justice. The worst tier being the justice give to those who are poor, sick or victimized by the legal powers that be.

    We announce new processes/initiatives to fix old problems, but what we are doing is polishing up an old problem and making it a new one. We do not fix anything. We are well practiced at kicking the can down the road; it is something that we are good at.

    We automatically elevate our leaders to genius level. The product of their efforts may not be at that the level, but no dares says “the queen/king has no clothes”.

    It is simply amazing that we continue to exist in the face of so many issues. Surely, there must come a day of reckoning.

    Our motto: “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”
    ― Mark Twain
    ———————————————-xxx——————
    Have a great day Barbados.

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