News Releases

UWI Diplomatic Academy Welcomes Second Cohort of Participants Enrolled in Disaster Diplomacy Module

For Release Upon Receipt - February 18, 2022

St. Augustine


The UWI St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. Friday 18 February 2022–– This Monday February 21st will see the virtual arrival of the second cohort of participants in the four-day long online training module entitled Caribbean Small States and Disaster Diplomacy, which is offered by The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean (DAOC). The participants are based in Canada, Guyana, Jamaica, New York, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, and they hail from a cross-section of professions germane to this training. This cohort comprises of career Foreign Service officers, disaster risk management specialists, development project experts, academics and civil society representatives. 

“A leading diplomatic studies training institution, the Diplomatic Academy has developed a reputation for excellence in teaching in disaster diplomacy,” said DAOC Manager, Dr. Nand C. Bardouille. He noted, “This upcoming module marks yet another step in the DAOC’s teaching journey to closely match its curricular offerings in modern diplomacy education with topical, policy-relevant debates in which its constituents have a stake. Consider that on the occasion of the 7th Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean, hosted virtually by Jamaica in November 2021, policy-makers and senior officials used the platform to sound a clarion call for the importance of scaling up knowledge about the systemic character of risk and associated cascading effects. The DAOC is doing its part in that regard.” 

Dr. Emily Wilkinson, an ODI Senior Research Fellow for Global Risks and Resilience and Chief Scientific Adviser at the Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD), is the facilitator of this second edition of the module, which Dr. Bardouille underscored builds upon a strong foundation laid by Dr. Wilkinson. In pointing to ongoing collaboration between the DAOC and Dr. Wilkinson, Dr. Bardouille indicated that she was instrumental in the development of the curriculum for the inaugural module, which she also taught. 

The teaching method of the second edition of the module aligns with the first iteration, integrating into the seminar format two expert-led roundtables. The first roundtable is convened under the theme ‘Building Back Better’, while the second focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and its wide-ranging impact in a Caribbean context. Four panellists—drawn from national, regional and international organizations—feature in each of the roundtables. The capstone activity for the training is a negotiation simulation exercise, geared toward negotiating a new international framework for disaster risk management. 

Following on the heels of this training is a companion DAOC online module offering, which will be held from March 7th to 10th, entitled Caribbean Small States and the Diplomacies of Climate Change: Negotiations in Practice. The deadline for completion of registration, which includes tuition fee payment, is February 25th. 

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About the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean (DAOC) 

The DAOC is the Caribbean's premier professional development-oriented diplomatic studies centre. An integral part of The University of the West Indies' (UWI) Institute of International Relations (IIR), it was established in 2014. The DAOC has a primary teaching mandate in the area of diplomatic studies, offering short, highly specialized training modules in the broad field of diplomatic studies. For Caribbean professionals seeking to expand their capabilities to advance an international career, the DAOC is a trusted educational partner. Combining a world-class suite of curricular offerings, which align with topical policy and learning trends, with a programme of advocacy and partnerships regarding the relationship between diplomacy and the Caribbean, the Diplomatic Academy provides a unique setting for stakeholders to deepen diplomatic skills/knowledge and enhance policy expertise. 

The DAOC has yielded substantial and complementary benefit to the IIR, which was established in 1966 by agreement between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the Government of Switzerland. 

Integral to the DAOC's mission is its commitment to help close human resources capacity gaps in international affairs and diplomacy in the Caribbean, by providing capacity-building and skills development training in diplomacy to up and coming diplomats and to aspiring diplomats from the Caribbean Region. This diplomatic learning and training facility also strengthens the University's capacities for research/analysis, knowledge‐sharing, advocacy, and partnerships and dialogue on the relationship between diplomacy and the Caribbean broadly conceived, with the goal of helping to facilitate policy-relevant awareness-raising on international affairs issues of import (and that are topical) to the Region. 

The Diplomatic Academy derives its character from its global outlook, real-world impact and Caribbean mindedness which, in sum, constitute The DAOC Advantage™. For more information, please visit:  https://sta.uwi.edu/daoc.

 

About The UWI

The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region. 

From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and its Open Campus, and 10 global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. 

The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Sport. As the Caribbean’s leading university, it possesses the largest pool of Caribbean intellect and expertise committed to confronting the critical issues of our region and wider world. 

Ranked among the top universities in the world, by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. In 2020, it earned ‘Triple 1st’ rankings—topping the Caribbean; and in the top in the tables for Latin America and the Caribbean, and global Golden Age universities (between 50 and 80 years old).  The UWI is also featured among the top universities on THE’s Impact Rankings for its response to the world’s biggest concerns, outlined in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Wellbeing; Gender Equality and Climate Action. 

For more, visit www.uwi.edu. 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

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