THE United Kingdom Defence Academy in partnership with Cranfield University and the Jamaica Defence Force are delivering a one-week Strategic Leadership Programme in Jamaica this week.

Thirty-two participants from 10 countries will participate in the training course. The attendees are nationals from countries across the region, including Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Jamaican participants will represent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ministry of National Security, Jamaica Defence Force, Jamaica Constabulary Force, Department of Correctional Services, and Jamaica Customs Agency.

The training course will run for five days, concluding on December 16, 2022, with the participants covering areas of leadership, communication, organisational culture, and strategy development.

Speaking at the opening ceremony this morning, British High Commissioner to Jamaica Judith Slater said, “The UK believes that it is in our collective interests to promote prosperity and security — a stable and secure world provides opportunity of prosperity for all… The UK is extremely pleased to deliver this programme and to bring the Defence Academy and Cranfield University back to the Caribbean. Across the world, weapon smuggling and proliferation, the advance of cyber threats, the malign activities of both state and non-state actors, rogue states, and the use of disruptive technologies all present threats to stability – whilst this region also faces the real threat of natural disaster and the broader destabilising criminal activity. There is no room for complacency and there can be no let-up in the continuous strive for excellence at every level throughout government and the defence and security sectors.”

The UK Defence Academy provides a number of defence education courses each year to support partners’ efforts to build capacity and enhance resilience. The Strategic Leadership Programme (SLP) is one of the UK’s flagship programmes and is designed to increase knowledge, share best practice, and stimulate debate on the role and effect of leadership among defence and security sectors.

The training is delivered overseas to around 18 countries per financial year and aimed at emerging and future strategic leaders from within the defence and security sector. The SLP has been running since 2006, reaching out to both developed and developing countries.