The main objective of Debate Watch is to encourage the engagement of all segments of the Jamaican community in the democracy and governance processes of the country. Specifically, the Debate Watches encourage citizens to inform and educate themselves and each other on the issues of consequence in their lives, their communities and the country; to ascertain the viewpoints and/or track record of those contending for public office and to make better-informed electoral choices based on their best judgement.

The Jamaica Debates Commission has staged Debates Watches as part of our mandate since the 2016 Local Government Elections. The event started out as face-to-face interactions in communities across the island, but the restrictions imposed due to COVID resulted in the activities moving online, with great success.

In 2020 over 575 participants were recruited via WhatsApp from across Jamaica and the diaspora as potential participants in Debate Watch sessions  in the 2020 General Elections Debates series that were mounted between August 25th and 29th. 

Debate Watches in previous election cycles had taken place in Community Centres across the island, with audiences watching the proceedings on-screen, and then participating in a discussion facilitated by a coordinator. COVID -19 protocols implemented in Jamaica meant that these community gatherings were best held virtually, using teleconferencing technology. The Zoom cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform. 

Twenty Zoom Rooms were established, each hosted by a trained facilitator recruited from the Dispute Resolution Foundation of Jamaica (13), Jamaica Association of Debating and Empowerment Ltd. (4) Girls to Women Development Foundation Ltd. (2) and The Jamaica Association of Sign Language (1). All facilitators/hosts were physically located at the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) on Arnold Road on the evening of a Debate Watch. 

No more than 10 participants were selected for each virtual room during each debate. Each participant received a Zoom link via WhatsApp with instructions to join at 8:30pm on the night of the debate. They were briefed on the evening’s schedule and were required to give consent to be recorded for documentation purposes. They were instructed to remain connected to the Zoom session with their device cameras turned on for purposes of observation, while watching the debate. 

During the debate, the Zoom audio feature was muted, the participants were however allowed to text to each other via Zoom chat during the debates or use audio during the short advertisement breaks. At the end of each debate participants were led in discussions  by the facilitators to examine key areas of the debates including: 

• The top 5 issues of interest in the debate (Content) 
• Topics of interest to their personal lives, communities, or the nation, that they felt were inadequately or not addressed (Content) 
• Understanding of the Content and the questions asked by the journalists in the studio (Clarity) 
• Effect of the debate and the Debate Watch on their attitudes to the election and governance in Jamaica. (Impact) 

Participants felt strongly that the Debate Watch experience provided an opportunity for meaningful political engagement with fellow citizens. They reported that due to the debate, they felt more empowered to, and interested in, following political development even after the election, and particularly to hold political leaders accountable for commitments made during the campaign. However, there was not a strong feeling that the debate would change the way that they would vote in the upcoming elections.