Despite the best of intentions, several initiatives designed to stimulate family island economies could fail to deliver due to a lack of local direction and overly "Nassau-centric" management, according to Exuma Chamber of Commerce President Pedro Rolle.
Speaking at the National Conclave of Chambers of Commerce in The Bahamas last week, Rolle argued that "wonderful ideas" only went so far in the absence of local management, which had remained underutilized by the public and private sectors.
"The challenge is that you can't just come to a Family Island, have a little dialogue, then leave and think that it's going to be self-sustaining. Someone has to be on the ground to ensure that there is follow-up or someone to relate to on the ground.
"All of these programs, every single one they're talking about, are too Nassau-centric. You come up with these wonderful, properly funded ideas but they can't be executed properly because on the ground level no one is there to walk you through and talk to the people everyday when they have challenges," Rolle said.
He highlighted the potential economic impact of an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) initiative and a Bahamas Geotourism Stewardship Council initiative. Both aim to better promote family island businesses and authentic activities through a strengthened web presence.
Although Rolle said that both projects had admirable goals, he believes that both initiatives would benefit from greater local management to ensure swift responses to island-specific concerns.
Rolle noted that the conclave was "indispensable" in bringing together the heads of respective family island chambers to address individual and widespread challenges facing family island economies. Despite Exuma's unique challenges, Rolle said that most Family Islands shared similar grievances, namely a lack of reliable airlift and long government reach in local affairs.
However, he believes that the lack of adequate local direction is not limited to such programs, accusing the central government of hindering family island economic growth by not divesting certain powers to local communities.
"The government seems to be committed to keeping the reins of authority. We continue to do the same thing the same way without getting any result. None of these things are going to succeed if they are not pushed and governed at the local level. If you want to see real growth and development in all of these various communities then empower the local people to do it and watch as it grows," he said.
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