CONTACT Magazine (Vol.19 No. 4 — December 2019)

2030: the next decade
Lessons from Vision 2020
Trinidad & Tobago: selected
developmental indicators 2005
+ 2018
As the indicators in the table show,
Trinidad and Tobago has made little
substantive progress in the 15 years
since Vision 2020 was launched. Only
one indicator, GDP per capita, shows
improvement, with a 23% rise. However,
this measure only reflects an increase in
energy revenues rather than productivity
growth, and therefore is unlikely to be
sustainable.
More relevant indicators are the spike
in murders, the growing perception of
corruption, and the decline in democracy.
If we were on a developmental path,
these trends would be going the other
way. Similarly, infant mortality has been
shown to correlate with socio-economic
development, perhaps because of how
a society takes care of its babies often
indicates other progressive policies. But
the steepest decline is also the most
reliable indicator of our inability to
achieve Vision 2020: Trinidad and Tobago
has far less economic freedom now than
it did in 2005.
Table 1: Selected developmental indicators
2005 & 2018
Measure 2005 2018
GDP per capita US$12,413 US$15,300
Homicide rate 25 36¥
Infant mortality 15 Ω 15
Corruption 38 41*
Economic freedom 71.5 57.7*
Democracy 52 45 §
¥ per 100,000 persons Ω per 1,000 births
* highest score 100 § out of 112 countries
Source: various local and international entities
By 2020, according to the plan, Trinidad and Tobago
should have attained developed nation status. We
should have invested in sound infrastructure, created
an enabling environment for business and innovation,
and entrenched effective governance. In this personal
assessment, Kevin Baldeosingh considers the success of
Vision 2020
by Kevin Baldeosingh
Freelance writer
The Draft National Strategic Plan (DNSP) for Vision 2020 was published in
2005, and involved approximately 600 professionals, activists and experts
in various fields. The goal of the DNSP was to “build a developed nation together,
calling us to action and pointing the way ahead.” Fifteen years later, Vision 2020
has proved to be a near complete failure.
The original plan had the following goals:
• equal opportunities for all citizens
• quality healthcare for everyone, with peaceful
and environmentally healthy communities
• a modern education system
• respect for the rule of law, human rights, and democracy
• diversity and creativity valued and nurtured.
The Vision 2020 dilemma
In 2010, government published a progress report on Vision 2020 which claimed
“an implementation rate of approximately 70 per cent in four years”. However,
the report’s own statistics show that only 18% of objectives were actually
achieved, and 30% showed no significant progress. With respect to goals like
“effective government”, the achievement rate was a dismal 3%; for competitive
business, 17%; and for “developing innovative people”, 4%.
By publishing the new plan, Vision 2030, in 2017, the government implied
that Vision 2020, not yet completed, was not a success (see Table 1). This new
initiative identified negative cultural values as the core basis for the lack of
implementation of Vision 2020 and, concomitantly, posited that success would
be achieved by promulgating those norms and attitudes which research had
shown were necessary for economic and social progress.
“A main part of the answer resides in cultural factors or the values, attitudes
and behaviours that we, the people of Trinidad and Tobago, either possess or
lack,” says the 2030 Draft Plan. “They manifest negatively in our country in
many ways such as the persistence of corruption, rent seeking, low productivity
and poor work ethos.”
14 DECEMBER 2019 chamber.org.tt