Voices Magazine Vol2 Issue 5-6

21 October - December 2018 | VOICES Bi-Monthly Magazine of the University of Technology, Jamaica T he University of Technology, Jamaica has collaborated with the Organisation of American States (OAS) through its partnership with the Government of Chile for the delivery of a short course on Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management for Member States who are also members of the Caribbean Community. The short course is intended to strengthen the capabilities of CARICOM Member States in the areas of Disaster Risk Management, Climate Change Adaptation and building climate resilience. A welcome ceremony for the 25 scholarship recipients drawn from eight OAS Member States in CARICOM (Barbados, Guyana, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica) was held on November 5, 2018 at the Jamaica Papine Campus. The Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management course developed by the University’s Faculty of The Built Environment was delivered over six days from November 4 – 10, 2018 at the Papine Campus. The course instructor is Professor Balfour Spence, Professor of Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies, Brandon University, Canada. The programme is being coordinated by Dr. Claire Sutherland, Senior Director, International and Institutional Linkages, Office of the President, UTech Jamaica. His Excellency Francisco Bernales, Ambassador of Chile to Jamaica and to the five other Caribbean countries of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda, in his address noted that the Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management course will enhance participants’ knowledge and provide useful tools that will help them and their governments “to apply the adequate hazard mitigation tools and to execute effective emergency responses.” Other speakers on the programme were Professor Stephen Vasciannie, President, UTech, Jamaica, OAS Resident Representative, Jeanelle van GlaanenWeygel and Dr. Claire Sutherland, Senior Director, International and Institutional Linkages, Office of the President, UTech Jamaica and coordinator of the programme, who chaired the welcome ceremony. Collaboration with OAS/Government of Chile In conversation (L-R) His Excellency Francisco Bernales, Ambassador of Chile to Jamaica, Professor Stephen Vasciannie, President, University of Technology, Jamaica and Jeanelle van GlaanenWeygel, OAS Resident Representative in Jamaica before the start of the welcome and opening ceremony for the OAS-Government of Chile/ UTech, Jamaica scholarship programme for the delivery of a short course on Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management for Member States in CARICOM. Stakeholders from the OAS, Government of Chile and the University of Technology, Jamaica pose for a group photograph with the participants in the OAS-Government of Chile/UTech, Jamaica scholarship programme for the delivery of a short course on Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management for Member States in CARICOM following the opening ceremony at the TIC, Papine Campus on Monday, November 5, 2018.