BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC -Barbados’ Social Partnership has publicly committed to working jointly with Barbadians to establish the island as one of the world’s cleanest and most beautiful small island states.
The commitment formed part of the signing ceremony for the Declaration of Mission Barbados that says, “By 2030, become a clean and beautiful large-ocean state, championing sustainable development locally and globally – with the goal of all domestic activities becoming 100 percent sustainable by 2035.”
Prime Minister Mia Mottley, speaking at the signing ceremony on Monday as part of the May Day celebrations, said the Declaration of Mission Barbados is designed to transform operations over the next seven years.
She told the ceremony that while several transformative processes had already started, there was still a long way to go.
The Declaration of Mission Barbados expresses six missions to be achieved by 2030 to transform society through collaboration. It is intended to engender sustainable development and prosperity for all.
The Declaration also speaks to Barbados being transformed into a country of active and involved citizens where all Barbadians will feel empowered and engage in the social, economic, and cultural development of the country as confident, creative, compassionate, and entrepreneurial citizens by 2030.
The third goal is to ensure that by 2030 all Barbadians have equitable and reliable access to affordable clean water and nutritious food. The fourth goal is to create a society that prioritizes wellness and happiness by 2030 and that there is an improvement in public health and safety, which will result in a 50 percent reduction in new cases of non-communicable diseases and a 50 percent reduction in crime.
The fifth mission aims to empower and enfranchise all Barbadian workers and families by creating opportunities for ownership and wealth creation that will reduce poverty by 50 percent.
The sixth mission is to transform Barbados into a “high functioning resilient society with seamless access to services and meaningful digital inclusion for all Barbadians.”
Mottley told the ceremony that the Social Partnership would spend the next two months identifying the steps to each mission for each of them and that a decision on the next seven years to achieve the tasks was made “because we believe that mission transformation is possible in seven years.”
Mottley said the mission was not about the Social Partnership but about all Barbadians who chose to make a difference in Barbados.
“These things are all achievable,” she said, encouraging citizens to show each other respect and care and unite for the success of mission transformation.
Barbados Workers Union (BWU) general secretary Toni Moore said she regards the Declaration Mission Barbados as a solemn agreement for labor, government, and the private sector “to share the burden as we navigate through some very uncertain times during the next seven years.
“This difficult period working with the current government has the potential to produce outstanding gains for workers, but as workers, we must commit to collectively working to achieve them,” she said, adding, “In striving for our goals, we must dispel the idea that change can come from government alone without change on our part.”
The private sector representative, Trisha Tannis, said the private sector reiterates its call for a genuine and sincere spirit of collaboration, not as word or ceremony only.
“If we are to achieve the long-term sustainability of this mission-centered approach to nation-building, everyone must feel that there is something in it for them, an actualized tangible benefit in one form or the other.”
Tannis warned that Declaration Mission Barbados “cannot work if we do not, from our hearts, respect and embrace our difference of opinions and sincerely seek to reach a place of common understanding.”
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