Bridgetown, Barbados, May 21, 2010, (Bridgetown, Barbados) - The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management (CDEMA) will be convened at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort, Nassau, Bahamas from May 26 -28, 2010.
This will be the first meeting of the body since the transition to CDEMA in September last year and is being hosted by the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and in collaboration with CDEMA.
TAC is a new organ under the governance mechanism of CDEMA. This Committee sets the tone for strengthening programme development and implementation.
Elizabeth Riley, Deputy Director (ag) of CDEMA who has responsibility for programming said, “TAC is about embracing a full participatory approach to build synergies between the CDEMA Coordinating Unit and the eighteen (18) Participating States in all aspects of the technical work programming from design to implementation.”
This year’s TAC meeting will dedicate significant time to examining the enabling environment in each country to deliver the CDM mandate.
“We are going to be discussing and looking for agreement on the way forward with respect to policy and legislation on disaster office structures, instruments and tools that we need, to monitor the progress of CDM at the national level.” Riley said.
“Also high on the agenda will be matters pertaining to the strengthening of CDEMA’s operational mechanisms to effectively function under the new manadate. Specifically, the meeting will discuss guidelines to strengthen the operations of CDEMA’s Sub Regional Focal Point mechanism. We will also use this opportunity to identify initial lessons learnt by the regional system through the recent Haiti earthquake event and the region wide drought.” She added.
A significant event during the Meeting will be the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Pan American Health Organisation and CDEMA on Thursday, May 27, 2010. This will broaden the scope to partner and support the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction at national levels and promote its incorporation in the health sector within Caribbean countries.
CDEMA will host a press conference on May 28, 2010 to announce key developments emerging from the TAC meeting and update on other Agency activities and the 2010 hurricane season preparations. This press conference will be broadcast via a live stream on the CDEMA website www.cdema.org from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm.
For more information please contact:
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management
Building #1, Manor Lodge
Lodge Hill, St. Michael
Barbados
Tel. No. (246)-425-0386
Fax No. (246)-425-8854
E-mail:
Website: www.cdera.org
National Emergency Management Agency
Cabinet Office
Rawson Square
Nassau
P.O. Box N-7145; Bahamas
Tel. No.(242) 322-2805
Fax : (242) 326-5456
Email: