BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Barbados is hosting a one-week regional early-warning workshop geared towards enhancing the skills needed to establish an organisational early-warning capability to support planning, policymaking and disaster response in the Caribbean.

The organisers said that the workshop, which ends tomorrow, complements other international efforts in the Caribbean aimed at reducing the impact of potentially devastating disaster events on populations and property.

The workshop has drawn participation from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the Regional Security System, the Implementing Agency for Crime and Security, and the Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre and the Joint Regional Communication Centre. They will be joined by experts from the Organization of American States (OAS) as part of a peer-to-peer exchange initiative.

“The OAS participants at the peer-to-peer exchange initiative will share with their Caribbean Community (Caricom) counterparts how they have adapted the systems and tools learned at previous training courses on open-source information, information analysis and reporting, and knowledge management to their daily work.” The workshop here is part of the Global Crisis Response Support Programme (GCRSP), a two year Euro 2.6-million (One Euro = US$1.29 cents) programme financed by the European Union that aims to build and strengthen crisis response and early-warning capacity in Latin American and the Caribbean.

The GCRSP also seeks to improve the interconnectivity between crisis response centres within the region as well as strengthen cooperation with the EU Situation Room and other EU institutions in the field of crisis response and early warning.

Activities include training, workshops, and technical information sessions in Europe covering risk and scenario analysis, early warning, conflict analysis, leadership and strategic planning, cybersecurity, and other related topics.