(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Hon Dr Frank Anthony, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Guyana; other Ministers with responsibility for Sport in CARICOM; Officials responsible for Sport in CARICOM; Members of the Diplomatic Corps; Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat; Members of the media Ladies and gentlemen
It is a distinct pleasure to welcome you to this Seventeenth Special Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) convened under the Theme – Promoting Health, Education, Inclusion and Development through Sport.
The theme of this meeting – Promoting Health, Education, Inclusion and development through Sport – focuses our attention on the role which sport can play in these core aspects of the development of our region.
Particular focus will be given to regional efforts to promote the value of physical education and sport in the achievement of desirable outcomes from our systems for human resource development at all levels, well captured in the Vision of the Ideal Caribbean Person, endorsed at the Eighteenth Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government.
Time will permit me to share only a selection of these attributes
The Ideal Caribbean Person should be someone who among other things:
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is emotionally secure with a high level of self confidence and self esteem
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demonstrates multiple literacies, independent and critical thinking,
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has developed the capacity to create and take advantage of opportunities to control, improve, maintain and promote physical, mental, social and spiritual well being and to contribute to the health and welfare of the community and country
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nourishes in him/herself and in others, the fullest development of each person’s potential without gender stereotyping and embraces differences and similarities between females and males as a source of mutual strength
The Meeting of Officials held yesterday spent much time deliberating on this aspect of the Agenda for this meeting. They delineated barriers to the achievement of those outcomes and the modalities for facilitating healthy lifestyles, inclusion and enhanced educational and life outcomes through sport. The discussions brought to my mind the title and content of a recently published book by John Abbott, titled Over-schooled, but Under – educated, which addresses the issue of the narrow interpretations placed on education at many levels of society and emphasises the role of policy makers, in addressing the necessary change.
Abbott focused on education in the United Kingdom, but many of the observations hold true for our region. These issues regarding Physical Education and Sport in the school system and the further development of out-of school youth, including the identification of special talents through improved Club Structures will also engage the attention of the COHSOD. The suite of recommendations made by officials focus on several areas including the imperatives of appropriate levels of training for teacher educators and teachers and the reorienting of perspectives of school administrators, teachers, parents and communities.
This Meeting of COHSOD will also focus on the often neglected element of addressing the inclusion of persons of all ages with disabilities. In 2004, CARICOM Ministers with responsibility for disability issues lamented the fact that in spite of the efforts of government bodies and other organizations, persons with disabilities still encountered discrimination and many obstacles to the enjoyment of their fundamental human rights and freedoms and agreed on a series of actions captured in the Kingston Accord issued at the end of that Meeting. These actions include:
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Creation of an enabling environment for the empowerment of persons with disabilities to reach their full potential
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improving the quality of life of all persons with disabilities through access to health, education, preventative and rehabilitation services, income security, communications, sports, recreational and cultural opportunities;
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promoting the training of the relevant professionals in the various areas of special needs to the highest levels so as to enhance the services to all persons with disabilities
This Meeting will take stock of developments in this area and propose mechanisms for further cooperation to give effect to the Kingston Accord.
The COHSOD will focus not only on specific areas of human resource development, but will also turn its attention to the Development of Sport as a business, with special focus on Sports Tourism, and issues related to the governance of Sport at the national and regional levels.
The discussions at the Meeting of Officials held yesterday underscored the importance of simultaneous action in several sectors and a truly inter-sectoral approach to the issues. The region has begun to demonstrate the value of such an approach in the treatment of the regional response to the Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). At the regional level, it is recognized that the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) will need to work more closely with other Councils such as the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to address the overlapping imperatives that relate to the holistic sustainable development of our region. This will only be of value however to the extent that such collaboration is mirrored at the national level. We look forward to addressing some of these issues in this Meeting.
Ladies and gentlemen, we can still see in our mind’s eye, the balls off of Marlon Samuel’s bat soaring into the night sky in Colombo just two short days ago. We can and recall with ease the pride we felt as our athletes excelled at the Twentieth Olympiad in London in August and the Champagne moment as the Captain of the West Indies Cricket team held the trophy aloft at the end of the World T20 competition. This Seventeenth Special Meeting of COHSOD therefore provides an excellent psychological moment for us to examine our strategies and policies with regard to the social and economic development of our region through sport and the mechanisms for functional cooperation among CARICOM Member States and Development Partners which can propel us to realise the potential of Sport to do so.
I thank you
