Born and raised in St. James, Jamaica. Odayne Haughton is an aspiring philanthropist who has gathered the ability to develop and nurture long-term relationships with people and is filled with an eager potential for the field of youth development. Odayne Haughton is an IT Security Analyst at the Bank of Jamaica and is an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at The University of the West Indies. In 2016, he completed a Master’s degree in Computing and is now a Computer Science PhD student. For most of his life, Odayne has been working with various different non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting childhood literacy, youth development and youth empowerment. Currently, Odayne is the Director of one of these organizations, The Valley Foundation. Through the Valley Foundation, Odayne has led youth development workshops at over 15 high schools and communities throughout Montego Bay, Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica.
As a born philanthropist Odayne’s work doesn’t go unnoticed, being a recipient of the Jamaica Prime Minister’s Youth Award for outstanding youth service and a recipient of the Jamaica Governor General’s award of Excellence in academics and volunteerism. Through his dedication and hard work, in 2015, Odayne was elected as the Caribbean and Americas representative for the Commonwealth Students Association (CSA) where he worked with student organizations and guilds throughout the region and thereafter has recently been appointed as advisor to the current CSA committee. Odayne also currently sits as Youth Advisor to the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO and the official alternate to the Chairperson of UNESCO Jamaica. When Odayne is not doing charity work, school work, teaching or leadership workshops through his organization, he enjoys doing other outreach and youth-related projects through other organizations such as the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force, where currently serves as an officer at the rank of Lieutenant, the Jamaica Union of Territory Students (JUTS) as an advisor to the committee.
Odayne is the former Coordinator for the University of the West Indies Leadership Social Justice Program and currently a Jamaican Youth Ambassador (to CARICOM). He is a regular contributor to nation-building, region-building and youth development. Odayne is dedicated to improving the lives and standards of living of people in marginalized communities in Jamaica, The Caribbean and the Americas community and the wider Commonwealth through fostering inclusive growth strategies that will inoculate independence, self-reliance, collective prosperity and sustainability.
