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Thanks again to our education team for a week full of events celebrating our beautiful planet, reminding us to "tread lightly," and calling us to action to create a better world. We have perhaps no greater responsibility as a global community than to make certain we preserve our environment for future generations and to ensure that all students the world over have access to quality education.
Our individual choices matter and we all have the power to make a positive difference in this world. You can make a big difference in one very small, but very special corner of the world by volunteering with or supporting the work of the Blue Mountain Project. Happy Monday everyone!
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 Joe is currently employed by the British Red Cross in the Independent Living division. His work is focused on finding solutions for socially isolated adults, as well as promoting services within hospital Emergency Departments. He enjoys working for a humanitarian organization and the challenges of operating in an unpredictable environment. In 2012 he graduated from The University of Sheffield with a degree in Human Geography. During his studies he joined a team of researchers in rural Northwest Kenya to interview young local residents about employment opportunities and aspirations. He continued to specialize in qualitative techniques for his dissertation; investigating people’s interpretations of worldwide musical genres. Joe’s fascination with geography is reflected in his desire to travel and experience different cultures around the world. Since 2008 he’s participated in organising community fundraising events such as club nights and music festivals. Joe is motivated to create new partnerships for the BMP and loves working with others to achieve a common goal. Joe and his wife Dr. Josie Reynolds will be joining the BMP in late 2015.
 Earth Day is tomorrow, Wednesday April 22nd. But really shouldn't everyday be Earth Day? Our Education Ambassador Joe Donovan has organized activities throughout the week to celebrate our planet and to raise awareness on environmental protection. Today Joe worked with grades one and three at Minto to use recycled bottles and paper to make piggy banks - teaching students to save money while reusing disposed of plastic bottles and keeping trash from ending up on the beautiful mountainsides. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Tomorrow, and throughout the week, he will be organizing additional activities at both Minto and Penlyne Schools; activities include the planting of fruit trees at the schools and students starting seedlings in reused and repurposed plastic bottles. We heard some rumors about the crazy new Education Ambassador that has been seen climbing down mountainsides collecting trash. We thought there might have been a method to his madness! Nice work Joe!   A native Texan and resident of Washington, D.C., Joe graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 2013 with a degree in Culture and Politics focusing on education for social change. Prior to joining BMP, Joe worked as Program Coordinator for Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop, which engages juveniles who have received adult prison sentences in D.C. through poetry and creative writing. He then served as Program Coordinator and Communications and Development Coordinator for Life Pieces To Masterpieces, a youth development organization that uses artistic expression to develop leadership, unlock potential, and prepare African American boys and young men to transform their lives and communities. Joe is an avid tree-climber, wanderer, reader, and writer. His passions include conflict transformation, prison abolition, and the use of art and creative expression to pursue community-building and intersectional justice.
"This paper looks at Jamaica’s ongoing relationship with the International Monetary Fund and multilateral development banks, its recent economic performance and the impact on development of a persistently high debt burden. It finds that after 20 years of negative average annual per capita GDP growth, Jamaica continues to be plagued by high debt and low growth. Now in the third year of an IMF-backed economic program, Jamaica is running the most austere budget in the world, with a primary surplus of 7.5 percent of GDP. After two debt restructurings, both as preconditions to receiving IMF support, Jamaica still has a debt-to-GDP ratio of nearly 140 percent, and net flows from multilateral banks turned negative for two consecutive years. The paper finds that multilateral debt relief may be necessary for Jamaica to escape from its unsustainable debt burden, low-growth trap." 
 Dr. Josie Reynolds has worked in clinical positions in trauma & orthopaedics, endocrine & transplant surgery, geriatrics, otolaryngology, general practice and acute medicine.
She has a long-term interest in reducing barriers to healthcare and improving social determinants of health for disadvantaged populations. This has led to voluntary work in sexual health education, advocacy and activism for HIV & AIDS charities and educational support for Somalian refugees. She is co-founder and trustee of Irise International, a research group working to reduce the impact of poor menstrual hygiene management on women and girls in East Africa. She established a nationwide student support group Friends of Irise and developed a cascade-based education program, training students to teach global gender equality lessons in local schools. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield and has been involved in academic educational activities for undergraduates and masters students at the School of Health and Related Research since 2012. She holds a First-class honours degree for research investigating early identification of stroke-risk in diabetic patients using MRI techniques. She has extensive travelling experience and has held voluntary roles in clinical work, education and research in Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar and India. Dr. Reynolds and her husband Joe will be moving to Hagley Gap in late 2015. |
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