JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation Aims to Make Positive Impact Through Conversations for Greatness

The JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation made another step in its efforts to deepen the impact of its Conversation for Greatness (CFG) programme to a national level with the recent staging of the second CFG Conference. The conference aimed to inspire collective thinking among Jamaicans from all walks of life and drive personal action towards building a more equitable and unified Jamaica through the principles of the Conversations for Greatness Programme.

Celia Ebanks, programme manager at the Foundation and CFG conference organizer, outlined that her organization will be creating a space to allow individuals to take part in the ‘big picture’ of transforming Jamaica. “One critical goal for us at the Foundation is to cultivate a culture of transformation in Jamaica by providing the right tools and networks to facilitate this, in keeping with the goals and guiding principles outlined in Vision 2030.  This Conference therefore seeks to propel the goals of Jamaicans being empowered to reach their full potential in a society and live in a society that is secure, cohesive and just, as articulated by Vision 2030.” Adding, “We’ve seen the positive results in the more than 80 schools and other beneficiary organizations, in which the CFG programme has been implemented. We will also expose more Jamaicans to the CFG principles and tools through ongoing online training opportunities, with one such workshop slated to start in the next few weeks,” said Ebanks.

In explaining the underpinning of the CFG programme, the programme manager outlined that Conversations for Greatness is a programme where principles and tools are shared that support persons to express the greatness within and provide transformational leadership. Through workshop conversations, participants are engaged in an ongoing process of reflection while gathering the necessary skills and tools to ultimately lead to a powerful and positive transformation in their thinking and behaviour.

The CFG Conference, and the inclusion of a whole of Jamaica approach into the overall CFG programme, comes on the heels of the programme’s expansion into teacher training institutions to introduce the transformational mindset in the education sector, through one of the key stakeholders – teachers, which is the core aim of the CFG programme. By providing a platform for individuals to engage, explore, and construct action plans, the CFG Conference has set in motion a movement towards a Jamaica where equity and transformed mindsets are the bedrock of greatness.

Even as the programme seeks to make a large national transformational impact, conference presenter, counselling psychologist, minister of religion, motivational speaker, Paul A. Blake in his passionate presentation to the audience encouraged the audience to recognise that every large impactful project starts with even the simplest act. “Many of us want to make a difference but we think making a difference means doing some big project that will immediately impact hundreds or thousands of people. No. Sometimes it's the one simple thing you do for someone. If you want to start a soup kitchen, start by feeding one person. Don’t be discouraged by thinking your project is too small to make an impact. Stop thinking and just start.”
The JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation remains committed to fostering conversations that ignite change in Jamaica, and recognizes the role that collective thinking and positive action can play in breaking down barriers and creating an equitable and prosperous society for all.

Since its inception in 2015, the Conversations for Greatness programme has realized a number of positive outcomes including: improvement in school leadership; healthier interpersonal dynamics among school staff; increased parental engagement; reduced absenteeism, and improved student behaviour, positive shift in mindset change, improved conflict resolution among other progressive behaviour changes. “Over 7000 individuals have benefited from the CFG programme since inception and we are looking forward to exposing thousands of individuals to these principles, which we believe will go a far way in helping us create the Jamaica we all desire”, shared Ebanks.