It is already influencing how people access information, how governments and businesses make decisions, how students learn, and how societies prepare for crises. Whether we are fully ready or not, artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday life.That is why the real question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will shape our future. It already is. The real question is who will shape artificial intelligence, under what rules, and in whose interests.As the world marks World Creativity and Innovation Day on April 21, there is every reason to celebrate human ingenuity and the power of ideas to transform lives. But innovation alone is never enough. Innovation without responsibility can deepen harm as easily as it can unlock progress. Few technologies make this clearer than artificial intelligence.Artificial intelligence is a human creation. It reflects the values, choices, and assumptions of those who design and deploy it. Its benefits are immense and still unfolding. Used well, it can improve public services, expand access to knowledge, strengthen institutions, and accelerate sustainable development. Left unguided, however, it can reinforce inequality, erode trust, concentrate power, and exclude those who are already on the margins.GOVERNANCE MATTERSThis is why governance matters. The governance of artificial intelligence should not aim to suppress innovation or slow progress for its own sake. Rather, it should create the conditions under which innovation can thrive responsibly. It should protect human dignity, safety, privacy, and fundamental freedoms, while ensuring that technological advancement serves the public good.For Jamaica and other Small Island Developing States, this is not an abstract or distant debate. It is immediate, practical, and deeply consequential. Technologies designed elsewhere are already shaping our economies, our information ecosystems, and our capacity to respond to climate and development challenges. If global norms and rules are created without the participation of countries like ours, then we risk living with the consequences of decisions we had little role in shaping.That is precisely why Jamaica’s voice matters.Global governance of artificial intelligence cannot be left only to the largest economies or to private technology companies. Data moves across borders. Algorithms developed in one part of the world can influence lives and institutions in another. The implications are global, and so too must be the response. No country, however influential, can govern artificial intelligence responsibly on its own.This is where the United Nations has a unique and indispensable role. The United Nations was created to help countries confront challenges that transcend borders and require collective solutions. Artificial intelligence is one of those challenges. Its governance must be rooted in multilateralism, inclusion, and shared responsibility.In 2024, member states adopted the Global Digital Compact, an important milestone in digital cooperation. Significantly, it included a dedicated focus on artificial intelligence. Its message was unmistakable: artificial intelligence holds enormous promise for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, but it also carries serious risks, and those risks should not be faced by any one country alone.For Jamaica, this is not merely about global diplomacy. It is about development policy in the most practical sense. Artificial intelligence can improve early warning systems for hurricanes and floods. It can help farmers better respond to changing climate conditions. It can strengthen health services, including in under served communities. It can support more personalised and effective learning. For a country working to build resilience, expand opportunity, and accelerate development, these are transformative possibilities.HONESTYBut optimism must be matched by honesty.Artificial intelligence systems built on biased data can entrench discrimination. Weak governance can expose people to surveillance, misinformation, and exploitation. Deepfakes and synthetic media can undermine trust, distort democratic discourse, and weaken social cohesion. Countries with limited regulatory capacity are often the most vulnerable to these harms, even as they have the most to gain from the positive uses of technology.That is why collective action is essential. The United Nations has advanced an approach to artificial intelligence governance built around three pillars: policy, science, and capacity. Policy ensures that artificial intelligence is anchored in human rights, ethics, and accountability. Science provides credible, independent evidence on both opportunities and risks. Capacity helps countries build the skills, institutions, and digital infrastructure needed not just to consume artificial intelligence, but to shape how it is governed and applied.New global mechanisms are beginning to take shape. The Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence is expected to provide evidence-based assessments to support decision-making. The Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance will offer a multilateral platform for Member States and other stakeholders to engage on how artificial intelligence should be governed in ways that are innovative, responsible, and grounded in human rights and the public interest.Jamaica and other Small Island Developing States must be part of these conversations not as bystanders, but as contributors.This is equally true at the national level. UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence has already provided an important framework for action, grounded in human dignity, fairness, transparency, and human oversight. In Jamaica, an artificial intelligence readiness assessment has helped identify strengths as well as gaps. Such efforts matter because good governance does not begin only when a global agreement is signed. It begins with national preparedness, public awareness, institutional capacity, and inclusive dialogue.There is also an important misconception that needs to be challenged: governance is not the enemy of innovation. Good governance is what makes innovation sustainable. Trust drives adoption. Ethics enable scale. Clear and fair rules create the confidence needed for innovation to benefit society broadly, rather than a narrow few.This is especially important for young people. Across Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, there is tremendous creativity, talent, and entrepreneurial energy. The future of artificial intelligence should not be written only in a handful of global capitals or corporate headquarters. It must also be shaped in our schools, our universities, our start-ups, and our communities.The choices being made now will have lasting consequences. We can allow artificial intelligence to widen existing divides, or we can govern it in ways that expand opportunity and inclusion. We can be passive recipients of a technology shaped elsewhere, or active participants in defining how it serves humanity.Jamaica should choose to participate, to lead where it can, and to insist that the voices of small island developing states are heard.In the digital age, even the smallest states have both the right and the responsibility to help shape the rules that will define our common future. Artificial intelligence must be governed with humanity at its centre. Dennis Zulu is the United Nations resident coordinator in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bermuda, The Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com
 

Roofs were ripped apart, roads were flooded and blocked, and hundreds of families were displaced. The storm disrupted schooling, particularly in vulnerable communities where families were already facing economic strain.At Barrett Town Primary and Infant School in St James and Bromley Primary and Infant School in St Mary, the biggest question facing the principals was urgent and deeply human: Where are our children and how do we bring them safely back to school and learning?Just weeks before the hurricane, both schools had started using the Education Management Information System (EMIS). Staff were still adjusting, learning how to navigate this new digital platform, inputting attendance data and updating student records. What initially felt like a modern administrative tool quickly became the backbone of their recovery efforts. With paper records damaged and communication lines choppy, having digital student information after the hurricane, proved critical.Data as a Lifeline After DisasterAt Barrett Town Primary and Infant, Principal Anthony Murray described the first days after reopening as a period of intense coordination and compassion. The school community mobilized to provide psychosocial support, uniforms, books, bags, shoes, clothing, bedding, and daily hot meals - anything to remove the burden from families and create a safe space for students to return.But what guided these efforts was EMIS. “Through EMIS we tracked attendance in real time and followed up on absences,” Mr. Murray explained, “which made it possible to reach families directly.”By monitoring attendance daily, the school discovered that 90% of students had returned. The remaining students were quickly flagged for follow‑up by the guidance department. Many had transferred after the storm; others needed targeted support. The data ensured that no child slipped through the cracks during an already chaotic recovery period.Principal Murray calls EMIS the school’s “early‑warning and action system,” which shows enrolment, attendance patterns and resource gaps, enabling them to respond and allocate resources needed before problems escalated. He explained that the EMIS helps school leaders to know which students needed transportation, shelter or health follow up. “That turns a crisis scramble into a coordinated response,” he declared.At Bromley Primary and Infant School, Mr. Calef Williams, Principal shared a similar picture, though the journey had its own difficulties.His school adopted EMIS in September 2025, focusing first on attendance tracking. When the hurricane struck, connectivity became unreliable, but teachers worked together to keep the system functioning. “During the hurricane and early recovery, it was a bit tedious with intermittent connectivity,” he said. “However, we collaborated and used it to ensure we were consistent.”The school returned to normal operations by November 17, 2025, and Mr. Williams credits EMIS for keeping the team grounded during the transition back to in‑person learning.Turning Data into Direction and Hope
Across both schools, EMIS did not just replace paper registers; it helped rebuild learning. When communication lines were unreliable and families scattered, having digital, accessible records made recovery faster and more equitable. Teachers spent less time reconstructing damaged files and more time supporting students academically and emotionally.The experience at the schools reflects the wider aims of the SDG Joint Programme on Digital Transformation for Education, which supports the introduction of tools like EMIS to strengthen education systems. While designed to improve planning and data-driven decision-making, the programme has also proven its value in times of crisis, helping schools respond faster and more equitably when a disruption occurs.As recovery continues, the schools are looking beyond Hurricane Melissa. The schools plan to fully integrate EMIS into daily operations, using data to monitor attendance, identify learning gaps and better prepare for future shocks.As Mr. Murray reflected: “The hurricane showed us how fragile things can be. But it also showed us that with the right tools, we can recover faster and build back stronger for our children.”In a season marked by loss and uncertainty, the early adoption of EMIS by these two schools has helped transform disruption into direction. Their experience stands as a compelling example of why scaling digital systems across all schools is not only possible, but essential, for protecting learning and children’s futures.

Changes in the global economy, debt and cost-of-living pressures, fragility in multilateralism, declining aid, the risks and opportunities from new technologies, and rapid ecological shifts all come together to reshape development prospects. These overlapping pressures challenge countries’ resilience and are most deeply felt through increasing social vulnerability, especially among those already at risk.As this landscape shifts, development thinking and policy frameworks must also evolve. Multidimensional risks require integrated responses and better development metrics. These metrics are more than just technical tools. They shape how vulnerability is understood, how future inequalities are forecasted, and how policy priorities are set. Jamaica’s recent launch of its new National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) illustrates this change. Moving beyond traditional income measures and headline GDP figures, the MPI focuses on people’s lived experiences by capturing overlapping hardships across four areas: living standards, employment, health, and education.This is especially urgent given Jamaica’s current situation. As highlighted in UNDP’s recent Human Impact Assessment following Hurricane Melissa, multidimensional poverty has increased in affected communities after what is considered the most severe climate-related disaster in Jamaica’s recent history. Recent findings from the UN-supported Loss and Damage Assessment estimate damages of over US$12 billion, nearly 60 per cent of 2024 GDP. However, beyond these macro-level figures, the impacts on households and communities are equally serious. Many communities already facing multidimensional poverty are now experiencing additional declines in living standards, employment, health, and education.GUIDES FOR RECOVERYThat is why multidimensional metrics like the MPI should be seen not only as tools for measuring deprivation but also as guides for recovery and rebuilding. If the goal is to rebuild better and achieve a resilient recovery — especially for vulnerable communities — policy must be based on a deeper understanding of how crises affect people’s lives. Two priorities stand out.First, alongside the focus on living standards, employment, health, and education, recovery planning in Jamaica and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) must prioritise climate resilience. The 2025 global Multidimensional Poverty Index report by the UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative shows how climate vulnerability is increasingly linked to the persistence, and sometimes worsening, of multidimensional poverty. Of those living in multidimensional poverty worldwide, 80 per cent are directly exposed to climate hazards, and the most disadvantaged communities will often be the ones facing the greatest climate stresses in the coming decades.This is very relevant for Jamaica. The combined effects of Hurricanes Beryl and Melissa on vulnerable communities have shown how closely multidimensional poverty and climate risk now connect. Communities already affected by poor housing, unstable jobs, limited access to services, or weak social protections are often the same groups most exposed to disaster shocks. Increasingly, those living in multidimensional poverty are also on the front lines of the climate crisis.Reshaping development policy and recovery metrics should explicitly include climate change as a key factor driving multidimensional poverty. This can entail factoring in climate dimensions into the existing pillars of the national MPI, measuring, for example, the levels of climate resilience within housing, water and energy systems within agriculture, tourism, or other sources of employment, and within systems meant to ensure access to health and education services. It should also entail combining climate hazard data with MPI data and using spatial planning tools such as those promoted through the Jamaica Resilient Recovery Initiative by the UNDP and national partners. These approaches can help identify areas where climate risk and multidimensional poverty overlap most critically, guiding recovery investments for maximum effect. They also support more climate-resilient housing reconstruction, improved community infrastructure, better livelihoods and employment, and the protection of health and education systems in communities impacted by both poverty and climate threats.POSITIVE STEPSecond, the pillars on living standards and employment in Jamaica’s new national MPI are an important and positive step. For SIDS like Jamaica, this focus is especially vital because it shows how GDP alone cannot tell the full story, with economic performance, resilience, and household well-being closely linked. A rebound in GDP after a disaster may reflect reconstruction efforts and increased spending, but it can still overlook the ongoing insecurity faced by households in the hardest-hit communities. The living standards pillar under the current national MPI measures trends such as electricity access, cooking fuel, overcrowding, and waste-collection services while the employment pillar touches on unemployment levels, contributions to national social insurance schemes, and participation in youth empowerment initiatives. Tracking these and similar indicators will be key for recovery and rebuilding in crisis-affected parts of Jamaica.The importance of these issues is also reinforced by a new United Nations working paper on moving beyond GDP. In it, the authors advance ideas for a Multidimensional Living Standards Index (MLSI), with a focus on entrepreneurial opportunities, disposable income, access to and affordability of essentials, economic and social security, and environmental conditions. Some of these aspects would be beneficial for enhancing the living standards and employment pillars of Jamaica’s national MPI into the future. For example, the living standards metrics could be expanded beyond measuring access to services to also include affordability pressures, such as the share of income spent on housing, utilities, food, transport, and other essentials, as well as measures of household security, such as exposure to shocks, access to social protection, and vulnerability to sudden income loss, particularly after disasters. These are vital for resilience so that recovery can be measured not just by output growth but by whether households are experiencing safer, more affordable, and more secure lives.A new approach to development is emerging. In an era where multidimensional crises occur more frequently, development policies and metrics must evolve to stay effective. For Jamaica, adopting a more comprehensive way to measure development isn’t a luxury. It is essential for recovery and rebuilding, for better outcomes in the poorest communities, for safeguarding hard-won development progress, and for reducing future risks on the path towards prosperity through 2030.Jamaica, like many small island developing states, faces intense and overlapping vulnerabilities. As attention shifts towards the post-2030 agenda, our understanding of poverty, resilience, and vulnerability must continue to grow. Global risks should not be viewed solely as threats. They should also be seen as opportunities to improve measures, policies, and ultimately, lives.Further reading: Global MultiDimensional Poverty Index 2025: Overlapping Hardships – Poverty and Climate Hazards, UNDP and OPHI. Dr Kishan Khoday is the resident representative for the United Nations Development Programme Multi-Country Office in Jamaica. Dr Stuart Davies is the senior economist at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Jamaica. Send feedback to gillian.scott@undp.org and jamaica.rco@un.org. CLICK HERE to read via the Jamaica Gleaner website

inclusive nation. It is the anniversary of the Disabilities Act coming into effect in 2022, a legislative promise designed to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy the same rights and opportunities as every other citizen.As we celebrate this fourth anniversary in 2026, we do so while navigating the recovery from Hurricane Melissa. While the storm caused significant damage, it has also presented Jamaica with a critical opportunity: the chance to rebuild a nation that is more resilient, more accessible, and truly inclusive of everyone.UNSEEN IMPACT OF MELISSAHurricane Melissa unleashed widespread destruction, tearing through homes and vital facilities, and creating a humanitarian challenge that touched every sector. Beyond the immediate physical damage, the storm jeopardized food security for thousands and compromised access to clean water and sanitation.Yet, Hurricane Melissa’s impact was not felt equally. For persons with disabilities, the storm laid bare deep-seated vulnerabilities. Communication gaps in the alert process left many uninformed, and designated shelters often remained physically inaccessible. This crisis was further compounded by infrastructure that was already “inaccessible by design,” highlighting the urgent need to address systemic barriers and prioritize inclusive reconstruction during the recovery process.INCLUSIVE RECOVERYIn the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, the United Nations system in Jamaica activated a multi-sectoral response, working hand-in-hand with the Government and affected communities. This included providing support across critical sectors, including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health, shelter, food security, protection, education, logistics, and telecommunications, all underpinned by robust coordination efforts.Crucially, UN agencies, working closely alongside the Government, initiated targeted interventions to support persons with disabilities:Counting every person: All projects funded by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) now require data that identifies the specific impacts of the hurricane on persons with disabilities. This ensures assistance is both targeted and effective, leaving no one behind.Digital lifelines: UNICEF and the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) are strengthening social protection through a digital voucher mechanism within the “I Am Able: My JCPD” mobile app. This provides rapid, secure assistance to 1,500 children with disabilities and their families, offering accessible communication on nutrition and safety, and empowering families with vital information.Dedicated health support: The WHO/PAHO CERF project specifically focuses on 6,633 persons with disabilities as direct beneficiaries. This initiative includes dedicated activities to improve and support access to essential health services for vulnerable populations across Jamaica.BUILDING BACK BETTERWhile these targeted measures have been vital, Hurricane Melissa has served as a powerful reminder that our resilience as a nation is only as strong as our level of accessibility. As we move from immediate relief to long-term reconstruction, we must embrace universal design – the practice of creating environments that are usable by all people from the start.The reconstruction of schools, clinics, and community centres is not merely a task of replacement. It is a strategic opportunity to align our national infrastructure with the National Building Code and the requirements of the Disabilities Act. By integrating these standards now, we avoid the high costs of structural adjustments later and ensure our public spaces are welcoming to all by design, rather than by afterthought.Let us recognise that accessibility is a universal benefit that extends far beyond a single demographic. A ramp isn’t just for a wheelchair user; it’s for the grandmother visiting the clinic, the parent with a stroller, and the worker recovering from an injury. Building for the most vulnerable actually means building better for everyone, transforming our post-disaster recovery into a long-term investment in Jamaica’s collective social and economic resilience.INCLUSIVE JAMAICAIn November 2025, the United Nations, alongside the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the JCPD, signed a Joint Declaration of Intent to solidify our collective commitment to enhancing disability inclusion across Jamaica. This partnership promotes the adoption of universal design principles and advocates for the creation of accessible public and private spaces nationwide. While this collaboration arrived at a critical time for recovery, the UN and the Government cannot build back better alone. This is a national endeavour that requires every Jamaican to play their part.To the private sector: As you rebuild offices and storefronts, see accessibility as a strategic market expansion rather than a burden. An accessible business welcomes a broader customer base and fosters a more diverse, resilient workforce. Ensure your rebuilding efforts meet or exceed the standards set by the National Building Code and the Disabilities Act.To the Government: We urge the continued implementation of recovery efforts that are inclusive of persons with disabilities. Every rebuilt school, hospital, and community structure must serve as a model of accessibility, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to the Disabilities Act.To the public: Inclusion is a shared responsibility. We call on every Jamaican to advocate for the removal of barriers in their communities and to support an environment where every citizen is empowered to participate fully and equally. Let us embody the spirit of “Out of Many, One People” in our actions.As we rebuild from the ruins of Hurricane Melissa, let us not just replace what was lost. Let us build the Jamaica we have always promised ourselves – one where “Out of Many, One People” means everyone. Let us honour the spirit of the Disabilities Act by ensuring that the Jamaica we rebuild is one where every person can pursue their goals and contribute to their community as equal and empowered citizens leaving no one behind. Dennis Zulu is the United Nations resident coordinator in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bermuda, The Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com