Barbados and the OECS

Many countries are increasingly vulnerable to violent conflicts or natural disasters that can erase decades of development and further entrench poverty and inequality. Through its global network, UNDP seeks out and shares innovative approaches to crisis prevention, early warning and conflict resolution. On the ground in almost every developing country, wherever the next crisis occurs, UNDP is likely to be there to help bridge the gap between emergency relief and long-term development.

UNDP Barbados and OECS supports an Environmental (GEF) and Disaster Management Assistance Portfolio. The Disaster Management Assistance Portfolio is categorized within the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Practice Area.

UNDP Barbados has supported Disaster Mitigation, Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening in Support of Montserrat’s Post-Emergency Resettlement Programme through UNV placements in the areas of physical and social infrastructure. This assistance, co-funded by DFID, amounted to US$750,000.

This project, started in September 2002, is designed to reduce vulnerability to loss of life and property damage in the Caribbean in the long-term. The short-term goal is to realize immediately and embed comprehensive disaster management (CDM) as a viable process for disaster management in the Caribbean region. This will be accomplished through:

• development of a regional CDM strategy;
• strengthening of CDERA to efficiently implement CDM at the regional level;
• building support for CDM at the national level.

It is expected that a number of countries will incorporate CDM into their overall development strategies with a reinforced CDERA as regional implementation agency of CDM, leading to diminished loss of life and financial costs of destruction over the long term. The project is supported by USAID and will fund the programme to the amount of US$400,000 in two phases.

The office proposes to support strengthening the Search and Rescue Capability of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) through a pipeline proposal submitted for Japanese funding and designed to meet the dire need for an enhanced capacity for land-based search and rescue. This project will create the infrastructure for search and rescue through:

• training of teams at national level;
• provision of specialized equipment and materials;
• enhancing the capacity of CDERA to lead and coordinate Search and Rescue emergencies.

Proposed funding and assistance inputs amount to US$3,000,000.

Programmes currently supported under Crisis Prevention & Recovery Practice Area