JAMAICA is set to become a hub for Paralympic development in the Caribbean as the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC) intensifies efforts to build capacity and empower regional nations in Para sports. Michele Formonte, executive director of APC, arrived on the island on Saturday to lay the groundwork for strengthening the country’s role as a leader in the region.

“The purpose of this visit is to build a lot more capacity in Jamaica and for it to be the hub for our region,” she said. “Christopher [Samuda, Jamaica Paralympic Association president] has been a leader of all the Caribbean countries, and what we want is to increase and empower all the other islands to be more independent and to help with funding, to help increase sports, and to develop their own sports. The idea is to bring Jamaica as the leader to help the other countries to all come together.”

Formonte says that a major focus of her visit will be on gender equity and the promotion of women in sports. She says the committee will be looking to establish a stronger framework for women’s involvement in Para sports.

“We have a women in sports group and also a commission, and the idea is to bring women equity and gender equality, and also to work more with women as well,” she said.

Formonte says she will be meeting with a number of key stakeholders, including the Government, as they seek increased investment in Para sports.

“We are going to talk to the Government to see how we can increase [the] budget here, and we are going to talk about what we are working on in the region regarding Paralympic sports with [international committee] President Andrew Parsons,” she said.

“The idea is to see what the needs here are and to start working together to bring workshops here, and classification, and development of technical officials, the development of coaches, and even the development of the athletes. The idea is to know what is going on here, not just in Jamaica but in the region, so that we can go back to the office and make a plan together.”

Samuda emphasised the significance of Jamaica’s role in the expansion of Para sports across the Caribbean.

“Michelle is the executive director of the Paralympic Committee and I also sit on the executive board, and we have focused on the Caribbean and we have spotlighted the Caribbean for development, not only in terms of administration in terms of our cost efficiency but, most importantly, our Para athletes as well,” he said.

“So, this is a project that the Americas Paralympic Committee is rolling out in the Caribbean, and the first stop is in Jamaica. We will be doing Trinidad and also Barbados before we roll out into member states, and this visit is very critical for us.”

Samuda also outlined the steps involved in implementing the initiative, which includes discussions with key stakeholders and evaluations of existing structures.

“We look at how we are going to roll out that project and we will look at the constituency, and we will be doing stops and courtesy calls both internally and externally so that we can get a fair perspective on development initiatives that we will have to pursue,” he said.