CDEMA’s 12th Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management
The PROSE Team participated in the 12th Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM), hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), in Barbados on December 7-9, 2022. The PROSE Team’s engagement, through both a physical and virtual booth, enabled greater regional awareness of the project and upcoming initiatives, supported information gathering efforts and facilitated engagement efforts with both CDEMA and other major stakeholders, including National Disaster Management Officers from the region, the donor community, and representatives from various civil society organizations.
Some of the major regional lessons learned shared at the CDEMA CDM conference include:
- Need for a Multi-Hazard Approach when developing CDM policies, legislation, and systems.
- Need for increased coordination with healthcare sectors in disaster management strategies and more legislative flexibility to address unforeseen situations, as evidenced by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Need for uptake of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) within the region for data gathering and tools to support CDM-related decision making.
- Importance of applying a gender lens to CDM (e.g. need for social protection programs) as well as engaging youth groups in CDM.
- Need for legislative harmonization across the region.