UWI
Regional Headquarters, JAMAICA
–
During the six months that the Diplomatic Academy of the
Caribbean has been up and running, it has successfully trained 237 participants
in programmes conducted by 12 internationally recognised experts – from within
the region and overseas. In just a few days, these numbers will increase as the
academy hosts its 7th module titled
Diplomacy
and Disaster Risk Management from
November
24th to 28th.
Increasingly frequent disasters
and their associated costs can impact heavily on the vulnerable small island
states of the Caribbean. The transnational aspects of this risk environment
demand more from the diplomat and the crisis manager so the module is designed
to equip participants with the skills to make strategic, effective and
well-informed decisions in the planning stage and in times of crises. Leading
the training is
Dr Simon Hollis,
a visiting research
fellow at the Institute of International Relations and The University of West
Indies. Dr Hollis is also a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for
Security, Strategy and Leadership at the Swedish National Defence College.
Like the previous modules on contemporary diplomacy, climate
change, protocol and diplomatic law, intelligence and security and summitry,
Diplomacy and Disaster Risk Management will
provide innovative and hands-on training. This particular module is targeted
towards
foreign
service officers, civil servants involved in international aspects of disaster
management and members of civil society that operate transnationally in the
area of risk management.
According to Professor Andy Knight, Director of the Diplomatic Academy
of the Caribbean, each module
forms
an integral part of a wider
training and learning programme for the modern Caribbean
diplomat
b
ut can be delivered as ‘stand
-alone’
sessions
dependent on
content
,
to
different
target groups and
beneficiaries. The last module, Summit Diplomacy, sought to enhance the ability to shape the
summit diplomacy by exploring how and why such summits operate to produce
results, the ways in which they can be influenced and how systems can be
institutionally strengthened to this end.
Visiting Professor John J. Kirton from the University of Toronto who
conducted the
summit diplomacy module in October
remarked on the drawing power of the Diplomatic Academy which
succeeded in securing Dr. James Hospedales, Executive Director of the Caribbean
Public Health Agency to give a session on summit diplomacy just as he was
organizing the real CARICOM emergency summit on Ebola.
Professor Kirton
added,
“
Summitry is
diplomacy at the highest level on the biggest, toughest problems in the world.
It demands the best practitioners and students to make it work. We had them in
our course at the Diplomatic Academy. With their natural talents and new
insights they are now well equipped to change the world!
”
Interested
persons for
the
Diplomacy and
Disaster Risk Management module
may email
diplomaticacademy@sta.uwi.edu
,
call 868-662-2002 extension 83237 or visit the Academy’s website at
http://sta.uwi.edu/iir/academy.asp
About Dr Simon
Hollis
Dr
Simon Hollis is a visiting research
fellow at the Institute of International Relations, University of West Indies,
and a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Security, Strategy and
Leadership at the Swedish National Defence College. Simon received a BA
(Honours) and MA (Distinction) in history and European studies at Canterbury
University, New Zealand, and received his PhD in international relations from
the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany. His thesis examines the role
of regional organizations and their disaster risk management capacities.
Simon has published numerous
peer-reviewed articles on various aspects of national and international
disaster management and he is author of
The
Role of Regional Organizations in Disaster Risk Management: A Strategy for
Global Resilience (Palgrave Macmillan).
About The Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean
The Diplomatic
Academy of the Caribbean is a joint project between The University of the West
Indies (The UWI) through its Institute of International Relations and the
Government of Trinidad & Tobago and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is a global academy for Caribbean
Diplomacy, the first of its kind in the region and provides learning and
training to a cross-section of target groups and beneficiaries involved in
international cooperation negotiations and transactions within the CARICOM
region and beyond. Website:
http://sta.uwi.edu/iir/academy.asp
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