September 21, 2021. Bridgetown, Barbados. Dozens of executives and officers of national standards bodies and business support organisations across the CARICOM region are now being better equipped to train national firms to produce higher quality products and services and respond to external shocks to their businesses.

That is because nearly 40 of them are being trained to train national firms in three international Quality Management Systems and Business continuity and resilience Standards in a virtual nine-day train-the-trainers session conducted with support of the Investment Climate Reform (ICR) Facility, and facilitated through the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality (CROSQ) and the GIZ.

The training comes at a time when many businesses face challenges to produce and prove a higher quality in their goods and services, and also where the threats to recover and respond due to challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic or other national disasters have taken centre stage. 

Regional Coordinator with GIZ, Ms. Sanya Alleyne at the opening noted that, “This workshop will provide the Caribbean National Standards Bodies and Business Support Organisations with the necessary tools to support their constituents in enhancing their business operations; tightening their food safety management processes and becoming resilient to external disruptions derived by climatic changes or economic instability. The workshop will be delivered by a team of experts who will train the participants on the requirements of three Management Standards, namely ISO 9001, 22000, and 14000 and the Business Continuity, Risk Management and Organisational Resilience Standards.”

Project manager with the EU Delegation to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean, OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM, Mr. Sheldon Jackman said they were happy to see this training become a reality for regional entities.

“We can clearly see the importance of this initiative, as the region continues to navigate through unprecedented challenges brought on by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“As it has been mentioned before, this training is being supported under the Investment Climate Reform Facility, which is the fruit of a partnership between the European Union, the German government and the British Council, putting together resources and expertise to pursue a common goal of making ACP countries more attractive markets to invest and do business in. And by doing so, improve their chances of achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, in particular reducing poverty,” he said.

CROSQ CEO, Mr. Deryck Omar, underscored the relevance of this particular training, adding that he hoped that eventually the participants would facilitate such trainings with the private sector, and to also see the implementation of the standards. He also underscored the importance of further training in other management systems.

“We look forward to a continuation one day of a phase two of this programme, and that will help the [standards] bureaux partner more with the private sector agencies in their countries to actually implement these management systems standards, and that further training can be provided in othermanagement systems standards – especially in the area of energy, information, security and the digital economy.”

The ICR Facility is a joint partnership, co-funded by the European Union (EU), the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), together with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the British Council. It is implemented by the German International Organisation for Development Cooperation (GIZ), the British Council, Expertise France, and SNV, Netherlands Development Organisation. CROSQ is the regional centre for promoting efficiency and competitive production of goods and services, through the process of standardization and the verification of quality. It is comprised of a network of the national standards bodies with the 15 CARICOM Member States.