The UWI Open Campus and CCRIF SPC Successfully Delivered Disaster
Risk Financing Train-the-Trainer Workshop
Continuing and Professional Education Centre. Tuesday, August 25, 2020 — The UWI Open Campus and CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) successfully delivered a train-the-trainer workshop on a new course to be offered at the University, “Disaster Risk Financing for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).”
Eighteen lecturers from four of the five UWI campuses across the region with expertise in disaster risk management, finance, education, insurance and other related fields participated in this five-day training workshop conducted over five weeks, which totalled 25 hours of instruction. Each participant will be awarded a UWI Open Campus Certificate of Participation with two Continuing Education Units or CEUs. CEUs are an internationally recognized system of merit for persons pursuing Continuing and Professional Education.
CCRIF CEO, Mr. Isaac Anthony, who provided the welcome and opening remarks to participants, outlined the context in which the workshop was being offered. The workshop was an initiative birthed out of the long-standing collaborative arrangement between The UWI and CCRIF SPC, dating back to 2010. This partnership was expanded through a new memorandum of understanding signed in March 2020 which formalized collaboration between the two organizations in the areas of disaster risk management, including modelling and disaster risk financing, climate change adaptation and importantly research and capacity building towards creating a cadre of individuals who can effectively support the development priorities of countries in the region.
The workshop sessions were facilitated by subject matter experts from the CCRIF SPC team led by Dr. Michael Spranger, CCRIF’s Chief Risk Management Officer and Ms. Elizabeth Emanuel, Head of the Technical Assistance and Corporate Communications Team.
Participants engaged in lectures and discussions centred on topics including, among others, the impact of natural hazards in the Caribbean; disaster risk financing; disaster risk financing instruments such as CCRIF SPC’s parametric insurance, Cat DDOs, and contingent credit facilities; an in-depth analysis of CCRIF’s models and policies, as well as country risk profiles; and an introduction to CCRIF’s WeMAp hazard monitoring and forecasting tools.
Participants expressed their appreciation of the new content that was shared. One participant indicated: “The technical content was explained in an understandable manner. The products and underlying inputs and considerations are very clear. Managers in the public sector should have a proper understanding of what the products provide, the underlying factors and the benefits re management of public sector risks. I highly recommend this course for students in public policy/public sector management.”
The training of these academic professionals was conducted to facilitate the upcoming collaboration between The UWI Open Campus and CCRIF SPC to offer a Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) Certificate course in Disaster Risk Financing for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Participants of this course will have the unique opportunity to apply for a scholarship to cover the costs of the course as CCRIF has contributed US$11,000 to cover enrolment costs.
Follow The UWI Open Campus’ Facebook Page to stay in the loop and be notified when this course becomes available www.facebook.com/uwiopencampuscaribbean.
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About CCRIF SPC
CCRIF SPC is a segregated portfolio company, owned, operated and registered in the Caribbean. It limits the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes and excess rainfall events to Caribbean and Central American governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered. It is the world’s first regional fund utilizing parametric insurance, giving member governments the unique opportunity to purchase catastrophe coverage with lowest-possible pricing. CCRIF SPC offers four parametric insurance products: for tropical cyclones, earthquakes, excess rainfall and the fisheries sector. CCRIF SPC has 22 members: 19 in the Caribbean and 3 in Central America.
For more information on CCRIF SPC, please visit ccrif.org.
About The UWI
For over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional 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 an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); The UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies; the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ); The UWI-University of Havana Centre for Sustainable Development; The UWI-Coventry Institute for Industry-Academic Partnership with the University of Coventry and the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research with the University of Glasgow.
The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport.
As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. The world’s most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019 and 2020, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018 and 2019, then top 20 in 2020. The UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
