CDEMA focused on training

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is working assiduously to complete construction on the Regional Training Centre (RTC), to assist in bolstering comprehensive disaster management in its participating states.

Donna Walker, Human Resources and Administration Manager of CDEMA, speaking at a recent ceremony where SOL Caribbean Ltd. made a donation of $30 000 to the RTC, said that the Centre is intended to build and maintain required capabilities for comprehensive disaster management throughout the CDEMA system. She explained that the Centre will set the standard for those capabilities, identify the capacity building needs among constituents in the participating states, and deliver training programmes to address these needs through a multi-stakeholder collaboration and engagement.

“Delivery of training through the RTC is going to be flexible and responsive, recognising the unique needs and characteristics of our beneficiary states. It will deliver traditional classroom style training both at the CDEMA headquarters in Barbados and offsite in any requesting CDEMA participating state. The Centre will also deliver online training through its DigitalChalk Learning Management System, it will also utilise blended training options in its offerings as required,” she added.

Walker explained that they have been soliciting support for the completion of construction of the RTC and as these have been received, they have been proceeding with the construction in stages. With that in mind, she thanked SOL for coming on board, explaining that their generous donation will enable CDEMA to complete another phase of the project.

Meanwhile, according to Executive Director of CDEMA, Ronald Jackson, SOL is the first private sector partner to contribute to the establishment of the RTC. He
explained that the previous donations received came primarily from the US Southern Command, through the liaison office at the US Embassy here in Barbados.
He said the facility is utilising space within the headquarters building which they have retrofitted. He indicated that this work, which includes two classrooms, a cafeteria and document centre, is being done at a cost of US $500 000. However, he noted that given the pressing need to continuously build capacity, a new space will be needed sooner rather than later.

“We are a growing organisation and have fast outgrown this particular space and will likely outgrow it in the coming year. So one of the reasons I pointed to our vision of moving the training and operational component from outside of this building and locating it on the property we have adjacent to the carpark, [is] because we have identified – certainly in partnership with the University of the West Indies, the other university consortium, and with a number of partners that we have been liaising with – that the training and capacity building and the competence development, is an area that is required as we look at the lessons from 2017 and the recent events of Dorian impacting The Bahamas,” he stated.

Pointing again to the importance of continuous capacity building and capacity development, Jackson noted that they worked, with sponsorship from the Government of New Zealand, to develop a competency framework for disaster management, which he said is going to also drive their training agenda.

He noted that globally the implementation of the Sendai Framework and at the regional level, the implementation of the Comprehensive Disaster Management Framework, have recognised the need for widespread capacity building as a very critical element of delivery, and not only capacity building into the state agencies charged with disaster management. He said capacity building is needed across all of government and the private sector.

“So we believe there is certainly, and our partners believe there is a platform for this continued capacity building and training and hence the need to look now at a development strategy for the facility,” he added.
(JRT)