30575: Fw: Lucas (Oped) Institutionalizing Caribbean Diaspora Efforts in the U.S. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stanley Lucas <maloukwi@yahoo.com>

Institutionalizing Caribbean Diaspora Efforts in the U.S.
by Stanley Lucas
centurionlucas@gmail.com

Caribbean Diaspora account for a significant percentage of the GDP of many 
Caribbean countries.  In Haiti alone, their annual remittances account for 40 
percent of the country’s GDP.  While they are playing a major role in their 
home countries’ economic development, to date there has been no systematic 
effort to harness the skills, knowledge and professional networks of the 
Caribbean Diaspora in addressing the regional development challenges and 
promoting and developing investment opportunities in the region.  Additionally, 
the Diaspora, especially business leaders, often have great influence in their 
local communities in the U.S.  This influence has not been tapped to elevate 
U.S.-Caribbean relations. What is truly lacking are institutionalized platforms 
to organize the Diaspora to leverage their collective talent and influence to 
address regional issues and bilateral issues.  Other regions, such as Asia, 
have been very successful in leveraging their Diaspora communities and 
especially at creating ongoing bilateral business dialogues and various 
channels in to U.S. policy makers. Clearly, U.S. priorities are focused on the 
Middle East region, anti-terrorism initiatives, the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan and other political crises.  Despite its proximity to the U.S., the 
Caribbean is not a priority for the Administration.  Not because it should not 
be, but rather because in addition to being spread thin in foreign policy, 
there is no organized channel to funnel information into the U.S. policy 
makers, especially from the Diaspora community.  Additionally, the Caribbean is 
perceived as a tourist destination, not an economic engine, as are China and 
India.  Politically, the Caribbean is often associated with instability and 
trade disputes, to some degree.  However, there are many interesting new 
initiatives taking shape in the Caribbean, notably in the energy sector where 
there are plans to turn the region into a hub for bio-fuels.  Some countries, 
such as the Bahamas, are projecting record economic growth rates for 2007.
But the region is fragile.  Historically, it has been colonized by the major 
powers, and more recently it has been a pawn in the Taiwan-China rivalry and in 
Venezuelan President Huga Chavez’s plans to roll back economic and political 
reforms in the region.  The Caribbean countries need another voice in 
Washington, D.C. to educate policy makers and the public of the importance of 
the region and on the major issues challenging their governments.
The Diaspora community should play a key role in reinforcing Caribbean 
government’s efforts at home and abroad.  One significant way they could 
support political and economic development in the region is to organize itself 
to address the key challenges of: local economic development and securing 
international attention and assistance. This paper will outline and examine 
some proposals for platforms that the Caribbean Diaspora should develop in 
order to elevate the region as a higher priority for the U.S. government and to 
participate in their region’s growth.  Included in the paper will be a 
discussion of a:  CARICOM-US Business Council, to elevate a bilateral dialogue 
between the business communities and develop an agenda that includes key trade 
issues; a Committee of 100, that could establish a high level policy dialogue 
across sectors and highlight Caribbean culture; a CARICOM Congressional Caucus, 
that would elevate the issues in the U.S. Congress; a CARICOM Society to 
highlight unique aspects of the Caribbean culture including art and 
entertainment; and a CARICOM Youth Leadership Program, supported by some of the 
above mentioned organizations and the regional governments to help build 
capacity in the future.  The key will be to advocate bringing some structure to 
the CARICOM efforts with the
 Diaspora community.
CARICOM-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL
Bilateral business council’s have been created around regional and country 
specific issues.  There is a U.S.-Brazil Business Council, U.S.-China Business 
Council, U.S.-APEC Business Council, among others.  They offer the opportunity 
to bring together the top business leaders in the region and U.S. and Diaspora 
business leaders with a big stake in the region.  The Councils provide a 
strong, systematic platform for business leaders to funnel their priorities and 
challenges into the policy system, and they have a stronger voice than if 
tackling the issues separately.  As the main engine of economic growth, the 
private sector usually has significant influence in shaping the trade and 
policy agendas.
U.S. trade and economic leaders have a multitude of priorities, including a 
series of Free Trade Agreements, a new Doha round at the World Trade 
Organization, energy policy, and ongoing strategy development related to the 
rise of India and China.  Caribbean issues are relegated to the bottom of the 
priority list.  However, with the growing influence of leaders such as 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the region, it is greatly in their interest 
to develop a more robust strategy to engage the region. In order to attract the 
right level of attention from U.S. leaders, the Council should be comprised of 
senior level corporate representatives as well as some notable advisors from 
the region.  The Council should have a clear, and focused agenda with an annual 
meeting, accompanied by the release of a white paper and a gala dinner.  In 
addition, the Council should have a small staff to publish a regular newsletter 
for distribution among U.S. policy leaders and the membership.  There are 
currently very few sources of information on Caribbean priorities and this 
would go a long way toward educating leaders on the issues.
THE CARIBBEAN COMMITTEE OF 100 In addition to building a business-to-business 
dialogue, the Diaspora community should also encourage a broader range of 
voices into the policy process and to highlight the region.  There is the need 
for an organization that brings an Caribbean-American perspective to U.S. 
relations with the Caribbean and to address the concerns of Americans of 
Caribbean heritage. To address this need, a Committee of 100 Caribbean leaders 
should be developed to include all sectors, from business to sports to 
entertainment and art.  To be most effective, the Committee should be an 
international non-partisan organization composed of American citizens of 
Caribbean descent, Caribbean citizens residing in the United States or 
prominent Caribbean citizens living in the Caribbean from a broad range of 
professions. With these diverse backgrounds, members will be able to 
collectively pool their strengths and experience to address important issues 
concerning the Caribbean-American community, as well
 as issues affecting U.S.-Caribbean relations.
The key functions of the Committee should be to serve as bridge between the 
cultures and systems of Caribbean and the U.S. and also, to provide a forum for 
those issues that Americans of Caribbean descent face in bettering their lives 
in the United States. The Committee will be dedicated to serve as "cultural 
ambassadors" and fostering the exchange of ideas and various perspective among 
their membership with those in the community and government.
The Committee of 100 will be a voice for the enhancement of relations between 
the U.S. and the Caribbean With an in-depth understanding of both cultures, the 
Committee can enhance America understanding of the Caribbean, as well as 
Caribbean’s understanding of the United States. The Committee could also serve 
as the vehicle to develop charitable programs and donations by creating 
endowment funds for scholarships or recognition awards for significant 
contributions to promoting Caribbean culture.  This would be less of an agenda 
drive organization and more of a profile raising group to encourage 
constructive relations between the Caribbean and United States. CARICOM 
CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS
Many countries and regions, including Hong Kong, have encouraged the formation 
of a Congressional Caucus.  Caucuses meet frequently and hear expert testimony 
on the key issues in the region.  They conduct congressional delegations and 
fact-finding missions to the region and release white papers.  Further, they 
can be helpful in pushing a legislative agenda that benefits the region.
Through various platforms, the CARICOM leaders should encourage the 
Congressional delegations, particularly from Florida and New York, to form a 
caucus around these issues.  The potential Business Council and Committee of 
100 would be excellent platforms to leverage to meet with a select list of 
Congressional leaders to advocate this caucus.  In lieu of established 
platforms, Caribbean business leaders and Diaspora should form an ad hoc 
coalition and inform members of plans to put in place certain structures.  In 
this way, the Congressional leaders will know that they will have partners to 
reach out to in order to support this initiative.
CARICOM SOCIETY
Another successful platform to put in place would be a CARICOM Society.  This 
could be an organization that would promote cultural awareness through policy 
debates.  A prominent example of such an organization is the Asia Society 
headquartered in New York.  They are endowed in large part by private funding, 
including the Rockefellers.  They undertake a range of activities promoting 
everything from Asian cooking to the spread of democracy throughout the region. 
In addition, they have a headquarters that can be used to host events.  This is 
something that should be a longer term goal for the Caribbean nations, but 
certainly it would go a long way to promoting better understanding by beginning 
to set up such a structure.
CARIBBEAN YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Another important group to engage is the youth – both the youth in the 
Caribbean and the Caribbean-American youth.  Education is the key to the future 
of the region and will better prepare the region to meet future competition and 
challenges.  Many countries face a chronic shortage of skilled workers or a 
weak pool of candidates for government posts.  In addition to promoting greater 
U.S.-Caribbean ties, the above mentioned groups should partner with the OAS and 
local governments to launch a program aimed at promoting youth education and 
development.  Clearly for the Caribbean youth, a better understanding of how 
the United States operates in the arenas of economic, political and social 
issues can only strengthen future relationships between the Caribbean and the 
United States. The Caribbean Youth Leadership Program should be created to 
facilitate exchange programs between the youth of the Caribbean and the youth 
of United States. Programs could include scholarships for Caribbean-American 
students, scholarships for students throughout the Caribbean to study in the 
United States, government exchanges between young civil servants in the 
Caribbean to do study programs in the U.S.  The Program could also work with 
D.C. think tanks to develop internship programs.  Further, the Diaspora in the 
U.S. could act as mentors for students serving as examples of being successful 
at home and abroad.
CONCLUSION
The combination of these initiatives will begin to address the lack of policy 
attention that the region is currently getting and is intended to put some 
shape and structure to the regions agenda by harnessing the power of the 
Diaspora community.  Of course, the Diaspora should work closely with Caribbean 
governments as well in order to undertake a well coordinated effort. 
Therefore, in addition to the above mention activities in the U.S., several of 
these platforms should also consider hosting events and programs in the region 
or incorporating government into representatives into their initiatives by 
hosting them for programs in the U.S.  While the Caribbean governments play an 
important advocacy role, their efforts will be greatly supported by Diaspora 
organization as well.




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