BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Coordinating Unit is moving forward with plans for a national relief and logistics management plan and policy following a two-week workshop facilitating the planning process.

Programme Manager for Preparedness and Response at CDEMA, Joanne Persad, shared that the workshop was a significant milestone in pushing the agenda of the three-year regional logistics and relief management programme.

“The main objective of the workshop, beyond having the documentation, was the facilitation of a collective national think through on the intricacies of relief and logistics. We hope we were successful…and that you see your role in the relief and logistics supply chain and have a better understanding, as well as commitment to the process,” Persad said.

The agency said the workshop virtually brought together key disaster relief personnel from the four sub-region focal points of Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, alongside The Bahamas.

The CDEMA said it will provide support to the national disaster offices and organisations to ensure the policies are approved at Cabinet level. Participants from Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago were also introduced to the CDEMA logistics system, which is currently being developed with the World Food Programme to support the national policy, the agency said.

It noted that plans from the workshop will be presented to the technical advisory committee and CDEMA council as samples of the adoption process.

Nineteen participating states will benefit from similar workshops starting at the end of the year.