OPINION ARTICLE: Brava and the Paths to the Future: Looking to the past, solving the problems of the present and envisioning the future
Nova Sintra, June 4, 2016 - Brava is heir to a glorious history: In the past, we were the administrative capital of the colony, we generated ideas, we had industrial activity and we have an enviable heritage in the training of human resources, of which the training of seafarers is an indelible legacy of our history. However, our greatest achievement was our contribution to the emancipation of Cape Verdean identity, through culture.
Today it is necessary to look to the past, solve the problems of the present and envision the future: What island do we want to have in the future and what can we do today to build this future in the face of current challenges?
The reality of Brava is worrying. The island is living in the period of the longest recession that our small economy has ever known and the data demonstrates this: We are the economy that least contributes to the generation of national wealth, between 0.8 -1% of the national GDP, we have the highest rate of unemployment in the country, around 18.5%, and our population has decreased considerably.
These are data that should worry us, since there were, in the past, many generations who struggled to build an island that has been disappearing year after year.
Thus, in recent years, we have witnessed a continuous decline, without a programmatic development strategy for the island.
If we analyze the contribution of the economy of the islands, to the national GDP, over the years, we easily realize that there is an enormous heterogeneity in the Cape Verdean economy: The center of the country has been affirming itself as being the great contributor to the domestic product and some islands, such as Brava, have lost space. The economy based on services has not allowed the island to develop its strategic sectors, which make it possible to generate wealth, create jobs and increase income for families. The weak growth of the island has not accompanied the accelerated pace of development of the country, in the last decade, and the changes that are taking place, above all, with regard to the development of competitiveness factors.
The advances made in education, human qualifications and the research produced remain far from the island. The poor use, by companies, of the qualification of human resources continues to be a structural problem in our economy. This fact stems, to a large extent, from the fact that companies have not introduced the innovations resulting from technological advances, which made it impossible for the island to take advantage of the greater qualification of human resources to gain efficiency and competitiveness.
The situation on the island is marked by a very serious crisis, which translates into a sharp decrease in population, rising unemployment and low productivity in the economy. Therefore, the need for an economic agenda for Brava is increasingly visible: an agenda that guarantees the sustainable development of the island, which focuses on economic growth, the development of strategic sectors, the diversification and expansion of the productive base, but also that it integrates emigration into local development.
There is only a future for those who manage to take advantage of the past, and Brava's past is an asset that we cannot waste in order to build the future. Our history and culture are central values for our development that, unfortunately, we have wasted. Development necessarily involves the existence of an economic agenda that enables job creation, based on the introduction of new information and communication technologies in the business environment, but also that also allows for the strengthening of strategic sectors, with more innovation , efficiency and productivity, so that we can take advantage of the advances of recent years, namely, the improvement of the transport sector.
Brava Island only has a future if it manages to be at the forefront of the transformations that Cape Verde needs to face these challenging times, marked by great uncertainty.
Jonathan Vieira.
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