Continuing and Professional Education Centre. Tuesday, August 25, 2020 — The UWI Open Campus and CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) successfully delivered a train-the-trainer workshop on a new course to be offered at the University, “Disaster Risk Financing for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”.

Eighteen lecturers from four of the five UWI campuses across the region with expertise in disaster risk management, finance, education, insurance and other related fields participated in this five-day training workshop conducted over five weeks, which totalled 25 hours of instruction. Each participant will be awarded a UWI Open Campus Certificate of Participation with two Continuing Education Units or CEUs. CEUs are an internationally recognized system of merit for persons pursuing Continuing and Professional Education.

CCRIF CEO, Mr. Isaac Anthony, who provided the welcome and opening remarks to participants, outlined the context in which the workshop was being offered. The workshop was an initiative birthed out of the long-standing collaborative arrangement between The UWI and CCRIF SPC, dating back to 2010. This partnership was expanded through a new memorandum of understanding signed in March 2020 which formalized collaboration between the two organizations in the areas of disaster risk management, including modelling and disaster risk financing, climate change adaptation and importantly research and capacity building towards creating a cadre of individuals who can effectively support the development priorities of countries in the region.

The workshop sessions were facilitated by subject matter experts from the CCRIF SPC team led by Dr. Michael Spranger, CCRIF’s Chief Risk Management Officer and Ms. Elizabeth Emanuel, Head of the Technical Assistance and Corporate Communications Team. 

Participants engaged in lectures and discussions centred on topics including, among others, the impact of natural hazards in the Caribbean; disaster risk financing; disaster risk financing instruments such as CCRIF SPC’s parametric insurance, Cat DDOs, and contingent credit facilities; an in-depth analysis of CCRIF’s models and policies, as well as country risk profiles; and an introduction to CCRIF’s WeMAp hazard monitoring and forecasting tools.

Participants expressed their appreciation of the new content that was shared. One participant indicated: “The technical content was explained in an understandable manner. The products and underlying inputs and considerations are very clear. Managers in the public sector should have a proper understanding of what the products provide, the underlying factors and the benefits re management of public sector risks. I highly recommend this course for students in public policy/public sector management.”

The training of these academic professionals was conducted to facilitate the upcoming collaboration between The UWI Open Campus and CCRIF SPC to offer a Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) Certificate course in Disaster Risk Financing for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Participants of this course will have the unique opportunity to apply for a scholarship to cover the costs of the course as CCRIF has contributed US$11,000 to cover enrolment costs.

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