CDEMA
From HFA-PEDIA
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What's New
18th meeting of CDERA Council
The 18th meeting of the Council of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) convened in Georgetown on 25 June 2009 focusing on the advancement of comprehensive disaster management for the region.
From CDERA to CDEMA
CDEMA is the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. This is the new name of the regional disaster management body formerly known as CDERA, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency.
CDEMA will replace and advance the work of CDERA. CDEMA will fully embrace the principles and practice of Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) which is an integrated and proactive approach to disaster management. CDM seeks to reduce the risk and loss associated with natural and technological hazards and the effects of climate change to enhance regional sustainable development.
CDEMA will have:
- 1. An expanded mandate;
- 2. A broader stakeholder base; and
- 3. An improved governance structure
More information: [1]
In July 2008, the Heads of Government of CARICOM signed an agreement establishing the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the Council on the transition agenda for the inception of CDEMA on September 1, 2009.
The birth of CDEMA is to be followed by the development of a suite of policy and tools to mainstream disaster management in the community’s development thrust.
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This change from CDERA to CDEMA (Sept. 1, 2009) brings to fruition months of planning and represents the concretization of an organizational transition and strategic shift in focus from disaster preparedness and response to comprehensive disaster management.
The primary evidence of the transition is reflected in the organization's structure and mandate which has been widened to include the adoption of disaster loss reduction and mitigation policies and practices, at the national and regional level and cooperative arrangements and mechanisms to facilitate the development of a culture of disaster loss reduction.
Apart from a shift in mandate the new agency's governance structure will also be amended. The institution will be governed by a Council constituting the Heads of the Participating States, or their designate, but will be strengthened through the establishment of a Management Committee of Council (MCC). The technical platform of the agency will be strengthened through the involvement of specialized Regional Institutions in the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), who will provide diversified expertise in a variety of areas related to the science and policy of disaster management.
The Agency will now function with an increased membership of eighteen (18) Participating States to include Haiti and Suriname who have recently signed on to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency Agreement.
The organization has outlined a series of activities which will facilitate greater participation of its stakeholders in shaping coordinated strategic response to the reduction of disaster related losses in the region. Although acknowledged as a continuation of a process which commenced with the adoption of the Enhanced Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy, the Agency will continue to be governed by its mission and vision which emphasizes the need for an organization which is a "..leading, innovative centre of excellence, dedicated to building linkages for the promotion of a culture of reducing disaster losses in the region."
This view was emphasized by Mr. Jeremy Collymore the Agency's Executive Director who see the establishment of CDEMA to be a clear indication that Participating States are ready to embrace policy, systems and programmes that are appropriate for the rapidly changing risks to their development arising from the changing magnitude, frequency and costs of hazard impacts, the onset of climate change and other trans-boundary threats like pandemics. He urged the agency's staff "to recognize that the change in name is part of a wider process to ensure that we are more responsive to a very discerning community that wants be fully engaged in the risk reduction dialogue and actions."
(Source: Caribbean Net News; Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency - BB, 1 September, 2009)
About CDEMA (CARICOM Countries - The Caribbean)
CDEMA's 18 Participating States: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos Islands.
CDEMA is the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. This is the new name of the regional disaster management body formerly known as CDERA, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency. September 1, 2009 is the official date of transition to CDEMA.
CDEMA replaces and is advancing the work of CDERA. CDEMA fully embraces the principles and practice of Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) which is an integrated and proactive approach to disaster management. CDM seeks to reduce the risk and loss associated with natural and technological hazards and the effects of climate change to enhance regional sustainable development.
As established by an agreement of the Heads of Government Conference in September 1991, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) - now CDEMA - is the main regional inter-governmental agency for disaster response and risk management of the Caribbean community, with 16 participating states and headquartered in Barbados. CDERA also assists in capacity building and formulation of policy in disaster risk reduction and it is the implementing agency for the Comprehensive Disaster Management Project, CDM.
Among its other responsibilities are securing, collating and channelling, to interested governmental and non-governmental organisations, comprehensive and reliable information on disasters affecting the region; mitigating or eliminating, as far as possible, the consequences of disasters affecting participating states; establishing and maintaining, on a sustainable basis, adequate disaster response capabilities among participating States and mobilising and coordinating disaster relief from governmental and non-governmental organisations for affected participating States.
Comprehensive Disaster Management
Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) which includes attention to all phases of the Disaster Management Cycle – prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response, recovery and rehabilitation (CDERA). It includes emphasis on reducing risk. This nomenclature is the term that reflects the global trend in the discipline for increased focus on risk management and the intense desire among disaster management Stakeholders in the Caribbean to accelerate initiatives in promoting disaster loss reduction.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) adopted (in 2001) a Strategy and Results Framework for the Comprehensive Disaster Management with the goal of linking the CDM to national development decision-making and planning which led to the embracing of the CDM against a background of recent global catastrophes, and a recognized desire among disaster management stakeholders in the Caribbean to review the CDM achievements to date and revisit and sharpen its results focus, and to accelerate initiatives in promoting disaster risk and disaster loss reductions within the CDM in the Caribbean.
In light of the outcomes of the World Conference on Disaster Reduction and the priorities identified by the Hyogo Framework for Action, and against the background of experiences in the region, CARICOM proposed to focus its programming around the critical actions needed to advance implementation of the five (5) Intermediate Results (IRs) of the 2001 CDM Strategy and Framework, which itself was also explicitly connected to the Bridgetown Programme of Action. Following review and participatory discussion the following thematic areas were selected for priority attention within CARICOM over the 2005-2015 period.
The Enhanced CDRM Framework proposes four priority outcomes based on three (3) underpinning pillars:
- the Review and Assessment of the 2001 CDM Strategy and Framework;
- the global and regional disaster management agenda including the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015; and
- the CARICOM Regional Programming Framework.
The Intermediate Results of the 2001 Framework have been incorporated in the relevant places so as to ensure continuity and deepening of the CDM process which began in 2001. The Enhanced Framework is designed toward achieving the overarching Goal of Sustainable Development in the Caribbean.
The outcomes have been informed by the need for a strategic shift toward a programming framework which will foster collaboration among development partners and other key players as well as harmonization among the many projects, programs and initiatives in DRM within the Region. The draft revised CDM Framework was presented for feedback and endorsement in principle from the key stakeholders at the inaugural CDM conference held December 11th-14th, 2006 in Barbados.
The revised CDRM framework was devised to be presented to the Board of CDERA, to national stakeholders at the country level, and to COTED in CARICOM. National Disaster Management Policies are essential in all countries, while prioritization at the highest levels within each state is an important step. Development partners have undertaken to assess how the respective agencies can contribute to/support the CDRM process.
See also: Disaster Management Strategy and Programme Framework 2007-2012
Contextual Background:
In 2001 the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), through broad based Stakeholder consultations, adopted a Strategy and Results Framework for Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) in the region. The goal was to link CDM to development decision-making and planning. CDM was orchestrated as a medium for harnessing Stakeholder contribution to a common agenda of disaster loss reduction and for creating an enabling environment for Stakeholder programming consultation and coordination.
Other
CDERA and University of the West Indies sign memorandum towards building more resilient communities
Source: Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA)
Date: 6 April 2009
