The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote and facilitate comprehensive risk management within the Caribbean region.
The MOU, which was initialed earlier this month, will lead to collaboration on regional studies concerning programmes and projects that contribute to improving the quality of public services in member countries. It will also assist in improving the technical capacity of public officers; and the implementation of capacity development initiatives for leaders and officers in the public sector.
Other benefits of the MOU include: enhanced public sector governance; peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge, expertise and best practices related to risk management in public administration; the development and implementation of collective strategies to promote post-disaster recovery action plan development and implementation; the promotion of the concepts of integrated sovereign risk management and country risk officers; and the development of a standardized integrated risk management framework for use throughout the Caribbean.
After the debilitating 2004 hurricane season, CARICOM Heads of Government requested World Bank assistance in improving access to catastrophe insurance. The CCRIF was the result of two years of collaborative work between the region’s governments, key donor partners, and a team of experts from the World Bank.
CCRIF, which functions as a mutual insurance company, also has MOUs with eight other organisations in the region – the Association of Caribbean States, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the University of the West Indies. The MOUs are designed to help build capacity and knowledge bases for the development of disaster risk management and climate adaptation strategies in the Caribbean.
Source: GIS Barbados
