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Last Updated: May 26th, 2008 - 10:19:37 |
Remarks Of The Coordinator, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) at the opening of the eighteenth meeting of the Board of Directors, Jolly Beach Resort, Antigua & Barbuda, May 21, 2008
Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to acknowledge and thank the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for excellent arrangements made for the hosting of the Eighteenth (18th) Meeting of the Board of Directors and Pre-Board Meetings. It is clear that the standards for meetings are continually being raised.
I assert that the last year was a defining one for the advancing of institutional arrangements and the practice of disaster management in the region, and also globally.
At the forefront of this is the advancement made in the establishment of a mechanism for the harmonisation of disaster risk reduction within the context of the Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) programme and its clear priority outcomes for the next five years. This has emanated from a participatory and consultative process among our stakeholders in government, the private sector, development partners and civil society.
I again have the pleasure to inform you that significant work has been undertaken subsequently, again involving key partners, in elaborating a mechanism that will promote the synergies and efficient use of scarce resources available for advancing Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM).
I refer to the CDM Collaboration and Harmonisation Mechanism which is in keeping with the commitment of the partners. This was formally established on December 10, 2007 with the overall goal of providing policy and technical guidance on matters related to the programme implementation and the sustainable governance of the enhanced CDM Strategy.
The CDM Database, designed as a critical tool to inform opportunities for cooperation, and gaps for action has been recasted, and is now a live resource.
Our regional organisations and development partners have been very engaged and supportive. However, I would like to make special mention of the joint Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)/Department of International Development (DFID initiatives to fund a Coordinating Unit programme around Outcome one (1) of the CDM Framework. Together they are contributing over EC$ 21.25 million over the next five (5) years to assist in building the capacity and architecture at national and regional levels to manage and sustain this process of reducing the haemorrhaging to our social and economic landscape.
This is an important step in our efforts to promote programme based approaches to disaster management interventions in the region. Agreement on joint reporting requirements will make the management of these funds less cumbersome.
During the period we also saw the birth of the B-Tool, a mechanism that will allow us to benchmark where we are beginning. Financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and piloted in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), this instrument has proven to be a catalyst for awakening political and policy makers consciousness as to the state of disaster management in their States. The Board will be invited to deliberate on this tool and the framework for its consideration as a CDM instrument and how it can best be integrated into the broader CDM performance, monitoring and reporting process.
CIDA’s commitment to the establishment of a Grant Administrative Fund to assist states, community and civil society initiatives linked to CDM outcomes strongly suggests that the commitment to this Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) agenda is taking root.
When we also consider that the Community Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), endorsed the Enhanced CDM at its Twenty-Fifth (25th) meeting, there can be no doubt that the CDM agenda has initiated the second transformation in the institutionalisation and practice of disaster management in the region.
Our annual CDM Conference, held in the second week of December, has already placed its mark on the regional and international disaster management experience sharing meeting landscape. The requests for partnering are growing rapidly and with committed funding for the next five (5) years, this is here to stay.
I wish to use this occasion to publicly thank the Secretary General of CARICOM for the support he has so quietly, but vigorously, given to CDM and CDERA, especially in drawing to existing and potential partners attention, the role of CDERA as the specialised agency of the community for disaster management.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are part of a global community in which change is rapidly occurring and uncertainty increasing. We as a community need to be proactive in managing the impacts of this dynamic environment.
The already observed variability in our climate and the Stern Report have created a new consciousness to look anew at the mechanisms and capacities for disaster management in the region and globally. Our capacity to deal with more frequent catastrophic events, like Ivan, must be continually reassessed. So too must be our coping mechanisms for floods and droughts and the humanitarian needs which may be associated with the climate change and climate variability scenarios.
The issue of food security that are associated with climate change are now being compounded by global concerns on food scarcity.
In the short term we will have to:
- Revisit the capacity of our disciplined forces to provide the logistical support required for these emerging conditions;
- Reassess our priorities for emergency assistance
- Consolidate our neighbourhood agreement
There are two (2) immediate actions that we need to take. One (1) is the adequate financing for the training and deployment of the discipline forces within the framework of the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit (CDRU). Leaving this critical need to the decisions of third parties must become a thing of the past.
Secondly, we need to encourage staff in the National Disaster Organisations (NDOs) to stay. The heavy staff turnover, against a background of limited capacity to start with, creates a continuous challenge for sustaining the capacity built at national and regional levels. The issue of the conditions of service for these persons is in need of urgent reassessment. The Board initiated a dialogue in this matter, the outcomes of which will be shared with our Council.
A related challenge is the structuring of institutional mechanisms for the training of disaster management personnel. We are engaging the University of the West Indies (UWI) and other tertiary institutions on the need to be responsive to increasing demand for more appropriate knowledge for our technicians and more scientific information to inform policy development. Our desire to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with UWI has much to do with this concern.
The initiative by the H. Lavity Stoute Community College (HLSCC) in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to design and offer an on-line certificate course and open it up to other Participating State is very commendable and should be emulated.
At the Coordinating Unit we have had the benefit of another institutional assessment which has provided some pointers as to what we need to consider in preparing ourselves for this avalanche of change.
The issue of the adequacy of financing of the Agency, the staff compensation and development and sustainability have been placed on the table for our consideration.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is within this dynamic and uncertain environment that the Coordinating Unit has sought to maintain its leadership of disaster management in the region and assistance to Participating States.
During the period more than fifteen (15) workshops were organised or supported by the Coordinating Unit, five hundred (500) persons trained, twelve (12) policy dialogues initiated, seven (7) project proposal developed, four (4) projects begun and another (4) in the pipeline, responded to fifteen (15) requests from our Participating States for technical and other assistance.
Again, we have to thank our committed development and private sector partners who share our vision for a hazard resilient community.
These ominous times necessitate that we hold fast to the values of our commonality and the mechanisms designed to create a common operating space.
Given the regions concern about the impact of global warming, climate variability and climate change, we must be careful not to allow questions to be raised about the priority assigned to protecting lives and sustaining livelihoods. Tough economic times necessitate that we pay more attention, not less, to our humanitarian programmes. Within the context of these small and low-lying states this must include the consolidation of our regional cooperation mechanisms. The Myanmar experience has affirmed a central role for neighbouring states in facilitating appropriate assistance in times of catastrophe.
Notwithstanding the above, we feel that the momentum for disaster management is in the right direction. An understanding of our shared goal and a sustained desire to achieve this will be required to keep it in that direction.
Contact Details:
Jeremy Collymore
Coordinator, CDERA
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA)
Building No. 1 Manor Lodge Complex
Lodge Hill, St Michae
BARBADOS
Tele: (246) 425-0386
Fax: (246) 425-8854
Email: cdera@caribsurf.com; Website: www.cdera.org
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