Region Clinches EU Funding for Disaster Management

The Caribbean Forum for African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (CARIFORUM) has secured a grant of €3.4 million from the European Commission to support the Region´s disaster preparedness program. The project will be executed by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA).

CARIFORUM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington and Ambassador Per Eklund, head of the European Commission Delegation to Guyana, signed last week a financing agreement for the project at the headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana.

The project is designed primarily to provide institutional support and capacity building for CDERA, in order to strengthen and increase its effectiveness and improve its coordination within the Region, including the non-English speaking Caribbean countries.

In the same breath, it will also review and revise existing disaster management legislation with a view to establishing appropriate legislation where needed.

In addition, the grant will enable support for national awareness and management campaigns in collaboration with government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other parties working in disaster management.

There is also provision for increasing the use of Information and Communication Technology in Caribbean Disaster Management.

CDERA was established as an Associate Institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), in 1991, with a mandate from the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM) to coordinate regional disaster management activities, particularly the elimination as far as possible of the consequences of disasters affecting participating states.