Technical Assistance Programme 2018

CCRIF’s Technical Assistance (TA) Programme is the primary vehicle the Facility uses to provide support to enhance capacity for disaster risk management in the Caribbean. Launched in 2010, the TA Programme consists of three components and provides an ongoing mechanism for grant support within the Caribbean region for capacity building initiatives and the development and implementation of projects to improve the effectiveness of disaster risk management.

The Technical Assistance Programme provides five key opportunities to advance the resilience agenda.

CCRIF makes available resources for the TA Programme from earned investment income as reported in the Facility’s audited financial statements of the previous policy year. The TA Programme enables CCRIF to achieve its mission of assisting member governments and their communities in understanding and reducing the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of natural catastrophes, whilst at the same time contributing to the long-term sustainability of the region.

Component 1: Scholarship/Professional Development Programme

Under the CCRIF-UWI Scholarship Programme, CCRIF awarded 5 postgraduate and 4 undergraduate scholarships totalling US$75,500 to students at the University of the West Indies for the 2017/18 academic year. Undergraduate scholarships are provided to students in their second year and will continue in their third (final) year if they maintain the requisite standards.

Also during this year, CCRIF awarded three postgraduate scholarships totaling US$98,000 under the CCRIF Scholarship Programme to:

• Jannick Tash from St. Vincent and the Grenadines for an MA in Disaster Management at Florida International University (US$40,000)
• Renata Philomene McKie from Saint Lucia for an MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management at the University of Leicester (US$18,000)
• Cory George from Trinidad and Tobago for an MSc in Earthquake Engineering with Disaster Management at University College London (US$40,000)

Since 2010, CCRIF has awarded 68 scholarships totalling almost US$1 million to Caribbean nationals to pursue studies in areas related to disaster risk management at the University of the West Indies and universities in the UK and USA.

Dissertations and interesting research papers of CCRIF scholarship recipients are publicly available on the CCRIF website.