The enterprise Boot Camp programme organised by Jodie Bird from the B-Enterprising Team brings UoB students from different courses together in teams, to help create innovative solutions to real life challenges and social issues.
Sharla: St Lucia is one of the Caribbean islands I did not have any explicit knowledge of. I could point to it on a world map, identify its flag and maybe understand some Creole but that was it. My family background is Jamaican - of the island in the Caribbean that even the most unfamiliar still have at least heard of. As someone who had been a member of my University’s Caribbean Union for two years, I had met people from St Lucia but had not researched anything related to its government until I was presented with the opportunity to modify it with a group of other law and politics students.
The Boot Camp started with a presentation about the various projects we would be starting. LLB and Politics students like myself were advised to join the Pioneering Local Governance project, and so I did. There was also the Bays of Rays project for Geology students and Tell Their Story, Empowering a Community and Showcasing Caribbean Culture projects for all students. We were told that each category would be split into various teams and then each
team would be competing against each other with a presentation after three days of researching St Lucia and its customs.
The winner would be given the opportunity to present once more to the St Lucian embassy in London for further competition against Keele University students groups on the same project and also embark on a fully-funded four week work experience in St Lucia during the summer. Perfect post-exam celebrations!
Three days is not a lot of time to research the legal-political intricacies of a country nobody in my team had ever been to. We found academic articles, news feeds and tweets by locals to help us piece together an understanding of what people in St Lucia would desire for a new local governance in its Anse La Raye area.
The Caribbean Elective inspired us with stories from Anse Le Raye residents, music and a visit from Hezron Brown – a man with a background not dissimilar to my own. A common opinion my team had found was that other countries controlled St Lucia’s economic income as it was often foreign-owned corporations that ran its popular tourist spots and so had their hands in St Lucia’s wealth. While tourism is important to St Lucia’s economy, this industry took a large hit during the COVID-19 pandemic which exemplified the need for St Lucia to look at other means of income. Our idea for Anse La Raye was that it had a non-hierarchal council that would involve the local experts on its different industries such as agriculture and fishing, elected community leaders, public forums, a youth advisory board and the local MP for a collaborative governance based on the model by Ansell and Gash (2008) and Belize’s own local government structure.
At the end of the week, all of the teams were together once again to present their ideas to legal experts.
There were three different groups under Pioneering Local Governance and wow, was the competition fierce! The other teams had created QR codes, leaflets and websites to include additional information to accompany their Powerpoint presentations whereas we decided to include a Squid Game inspired tug of war game to demonstrate the economic inequality on the island.
We positioned Castries as the majority of our team and one person on the side of Anse La Raye as a fun way to show that Castries held the majority of St Lucia’s resources. Our informal approach worried us initially as the other teams had a no-nonsense demeanour with extensive information that left us in awe. We could not believe that in three days, they had all managed to consume and condense so much information. All teams fought brilliantly and worked to the bone that week. However, when our team was announced as the winner for our category, we were in shock! We were going to St Lucia!
The winning teams for each category all celebrated together with a meal and drinks. We also discussed what we needed to prepare for in London. On the coach to the St Lucian Embassy, we wondered what our competitors from Keele University would throw at us. Upon arrival, we were gifted with Caribbean alcoholic punch, snacks and important figures in the St Lucian legal-political sphere. Not a good combination before a presentation however I did manage to chat to several Keele students about the potential contents of the sandwiches and estimate the alcohol percentage of the punch while we waited for everyone to arrive.
I enjoyed presenting at the St Lucian Embassy in front of students, staff and St Lucian officials. Our plan to divert attention away from tourism was a controversial one that sparked both curiosity and criticism from the panel. If it generated provocative discussion, we had done exactly what we aimed to do and more. The comments meant that we had gotten to the core of the issues that were presented to us on the island.
Both the invested criticism and support will aid us once we begin our hands-on work experience in the summer. In the end, our competitors at Keele University won the Governance round with our own Celebrating Culture team winning the entire competition. It was refreshing to take a trip to London and meet new faces who, unknown to them, will be on the plane to St Lucia with us.
Inspired? Find out about our next Boot Camp opportunities
Find out more about Caribbean Elective here
With thanks to Sharla Peters
Arranged by Jodie Bird
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