Jan­ice Lear­mond-Criqui

On Mon­day, March 16, 2026, I re­ceived my De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor Tag for the CaribDE41. What does it mean to be a De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor for CaribDE?

To be a De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor for CaribDE is to stand at the in­ter­sec­tion of trans­for­ma­tion and truth, to be both a mir­ror and a map for in­di­vid­u­als, in­sti­tu­tions, and com­mu­ni­ties across the Caribbean. It is not mere­ly a role; it is a call­ing ground­ed in the be­lief that de­vel­op­ment is not im­port­ed; it is cul­ti­vat­ed from with­in.

At its core, CaribDE (Caribbean De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tion) rep­re­sents a move­ment that seeks to awak­en po­ten­tial, sharp­en lead­er­ship, and strength­en in­sti­tu­tions through knowl­edge, self-aware­ness, and pur­pose­ful ac­tion. The De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor, there­fore, is not a lec­tur­er dis­pens­ing in­for­ma­tion, but a cat­a­lyst ig­nit­ing in­sight.

A De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor un­der­stands that in the Caribbean con­text, de­vel­op­ment is deeply per­son­al be­fore it be­comes in­sti­tu­tion­al. Our his­to­ry, our cul­ture, our re­silience - these are not ab­stract ideas. They are lived re­al­i­ties that shape how peo­ple think, lead, and en­gage with op­por­tu­ni­ty. To ed­u­cate for de­vel­op­ment in this space re­quires cul­tur­al in­tel­li­gence, emo­tion­al depth, and an un­wa­ver­ing re­spect for the hu­man ex­pe­ri­ence. It means en­ter­ing a room not with the ar­ro­gance of ex­per­tise, but with the hu­mil­i­ty of ser­vice.

The De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor lis­tens be­fore they speak. Ob­serve be­fore they pre­scribe. They recog­nise that be­hind every pro­fes­sion­al is a per­son nav­i­gat­ing iden­ti­ty, ex­pec­ta­tion, and as­pi­ra­tion. They ask pow­er­ful ques­tions, not to chal­lenge for the sake of it, but to un­lock clar­i­ty, con­fi­dence, and courage. In this way, ed­u­ca­tion be­comes less about in­struc­tion and more about il­lu­mi­na­tion.

CaribDE’s phi­los­o­phy re­in­forces this ap­proach: that sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment is built on em­pow­ered minds. A De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor, there­fore, is com­mit­ted to nur­tur­ing crit­i­cal think­ing, eth­i­cal lead­er­ship, and a mind­set of own­er­ship. They help in­di­vid­u­als move from de­pen­dence to self-de­ter­mi­na­tion - from “What can be done for me?” to “What can I build, con­tribute, and lead?”

But per­haps what dis­tin­guish­es a De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor for CaribDE most pro­found­ly is their com­mit­ment to rel­e­vance. In a rapid­ly evolv­ing glob­al land­scape, Caribbean pro­fes­sion­als must be equipped not on­ly with tech­ni­cal knowl­edge but with adap­tive ca­pac­i­ty. The De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor bridges this gap. They trans­late glob­al trends in­to a lo­cal con­text. They make com­plex ideas ac­ces­si­ble. They con­nect the­o­ry to prac­tice in ways that res­onate with the lived ex­pe­ri­ences of their au­di­ence, whether it be a cred­it union leader in Trinidad, a pub­lic ser­vant in Ja­maica, or a young en­tre­pre­neur in St Lu­cia. They do not teach in iso­la­tion from re­al­i­ty; they teach with­in it.

And yet, the role ex­tends be­yond the class­room or sem­i­nar room. A De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor em­bod­ies the very prin­ci­ples they teach. In­tegri­ty is not a mod­ule; it is a lifestyle. Lead­er­ship is not a con­cept; it is a dai­ly prac­tice. The ed­u­ca­tor be­comes a liv­ing ex­am­ple of dis­ci­pline, pro­fes­sion­al­ism, and pur­pose. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly crit­i­cal in the Caribbean, where lead­er­ship is of­ten scru­ti­nised, and trust must be earned, not as­sumed. The De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor car­ries the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of mod­el­ling what eth­i­cal, ef­fec­tive, and em­pa­thet­ic lead­er­ship looks like in ac­tion. There is al­so an el­e­ment of courage in this work.

To ed­u­cate for de­vel­op­ment is to con­front lim­it­ing be­liefs, out­dat­ed sys­tems, and, at times, un­com­fort­able truths. It re­quires the abil­i­ty to chal­lenge mind­sets that have been shaped by years of con­straint, whether eco­nom­ic, so­cial, or psy­cho­log­i­cal. The De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor must do this with tact, wis­dom, and re­spect, cre­at­ing safe spaces where growth can oc­cur with­out shame, and where trans­for­ma­tion is in­vit­ed, not forced.

Im­por­tant­ly, a De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor for CaribDE does not mea­sure suc­cess sole­ly by at­ten­dance or ap­plause, but by im­pact. Did the par­tic­i­pant leave think­ing dif­fer­ent­ly? Did a leader make a bet­ter de­ci­sion? Did an or­gan­i­sa­tion shift its cul­ture? Did some­one re­dis­cov­er their sense of pur­pose? These are the met­rics that mat­ter.

To be a De­vel­op­ment Ed­u­ca­tor for CaribDE is, ul­ti­mate­ly, to be­lieve in the Caribbean, fierce­ly and un­apolo­get­i­cal­ly. It is to see be­yond lim­i­ta­tions and in­to pos­si­bil­i­ties. It is to in­vest in peo­ple, not as they are, but as they can be­come.

It is to un­der­stand that de­vel­op­ment is not a des­ti­na­tion, but a con­tin­u­ous jour­ney—and to walk along­side oth­ers as they rise. In this role, one does not sim­ply teach de­vel­op­ment. One lives it.