Funding to enhance CDEMA states’ responses

THE funding received by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), under the ACP-EU Natural Disaster Risk Management Programme, will enhance the response of nations to their specific community needs through the innovative Country-directed Fund.

Each nation will be empowered as they will determine how best to enhance their disaster response and risk management locally.

This was revealed by the Deputy Executive Director, CDEMA, J. Elizabeth Riley when speaking to The Grenada Advocate at the Signing Ceremony held at the European Union (EU) Delegation Office.

(From left) Ambassador, EU Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern
Caribbean Mikael Barford and the Director General of the Caribbean
Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (CARIFORUM)
Percival Marie signed the Agreement during the ACP-EU Natural
Disaster Risk Management Programme in the CARIFORUM Signing
Ceremony at the EU Delegation Office, as the Deputy Executive
Director, CDEMA, J. Elizabeth Riley looks on.

She said, “Under this programme, we are going to be very focused on supporting national level priority.  “We have been able to negotiate with the EU, a feature into the programme called a Country-directed Fun.”

Explaining further, she that this innovative feature, which has been incorporated in CDEMA programming for the past half a decade now, “allows countries to be able to access funds within the envelope in support of their own national priorities within their work programme”.

Therefore, “A country which may identify strengthening of the National Emergency Operations Centre, or strengthening of their community disaster arrangements, or, for example, strengthening of the District Emergency Organisations as here in Barbados, the countries are able to frame a programme within the confines of the resources available, of course, and target the resources to that particular area,” she stated.

Advantages two-fold

However, as she reiterated the benefits, she added that the advantages of the Country-directed Fund is two-fold, “…so it really allows us to be able to treat the priority needs of a country, and for us it is a very important feature of the programme, because in previous programmes, what we would have seen was that many of the results would have been predefined in a way, and it really empowers, I think, the national disaster offices, like the Department of Emergency Management, a lot more, because you can now determine and allocate”.

Speaking specifically to the benefits in store for our island, she said, “Barbados would similarly benefit. We have 18 participating states at CDEMA, and Barbados is one of those beneficiary states.

“The specific allocations per state... we are still in the process of working that out. As you heard, we are planning to move to work out those details by the end of the second quarter of this year, to move into implementation, so by that time we would be able to better define the actual financial allocations for each country.” (KG)