I extend greetings to you from the Staff of the Directorate of Human and Social Development ,and in so doing could not help reflecting on the mixed fortunes of this Council, its ever changing composition, due to the democratic processes to which our Member States adhere and to overwhelming progress to be celebrated in what may be termed a decade of dedicated delivery.
But before I vproceed further I am humbly requesting this gathering to please join me in a minute’s silence in the memory of one of our beloved members of Staff of the Directorate of Human and Social Development whose presence today is sadly missed. Ms Sandra Elizabeth Plummer, former Deputy Programme Manager for Health Sector Development, died on 31 July 2010.
In preparation for this 20th COHSOD, I perused the official records to generally evaluate what progress had been made by this Council over the past decade. I noted that at the 4th Meeting of COHSOD ten years ago, 4-6, October 2000, among the main items on the agenda was a Report of the Issues from the World Summit on Social Development, held in Copenhagen. Member States of the CARICOM, led by Minister Burchell Whiteman then Minister of Education of Jamaica, played a vital role in establishing the parameters for the Millennium Development Goals which resulted from this Summit.
Also on the agenda of that 4th Meeting of the Council was an item, Investing in Human Capital in the Caribbean and Striving for Equity. That was the proposal for an integrating theme for the work of the Directorate and its disparate yet interrelated programmes in education, health, labour, culture, gender, youth, sport, and crime and security. Since then, Sustainable Development, including Climate Change, has been added. The stimulating debate that this proposal generated resulted in a recommendation from the Council to substitute human resources for human capital. Hence the theme investing in human resources with equity has been the frame of reference for the inter-sectoral approaches that have been adopted in the operationalisation of the Directorate’s programmes, ever since
It is also interesting to note that that agenda included three critical components: (i) building and sustaining a knowledge base workforce: developing priorities and bridging the gap between sectors; (ii) establishing the inter-sectoral agenda to meet the challenges of youth; and (iii) culture and development in the Region: building on strengths to meet the challenges of social, economic and technological change. These issues have persisted throughout the decade and are even the foundations of our discussions at this COHSOD under the theme: investing in human resources for the benefit of all.
What struck me even more is that whereas in 2000 we were launching some important initiatives, by 2010 we have delivered on almost all of them. Whereas, for example, in 2000 we were discussing Protocol II related to the free movement of skills, we have now implemented free movement in many of the skills, including teachers. Then, we discussed the possibility of the CARICOM passport, today, almost all CARICOM nationals present here would have been traveling on a CARICOM passport. In 2000, COHSOD discussed moving beyond CXC examinations, the follow up to Beijing +5, and the report from Ministers of Health requesting COHSOD to approve the Caribbean Action plan for HIV/AIDS. At this meeting, a discussion on CXC expands to the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination and Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQ) and to CXC as a driver of secondary education reform. This meeting also addresses standards and quality in teacher education and technical and vocational education that have been implemented in most countries as well as the technological innovations in teaching and learning. In the case of Gender and Development, the process of mainstreaming gender into the programmes of the Secretariat is all but complete, and an Advocate of Gender Justice – Dr Rosina Wiltshire – has been appointed to champion the accelerated pace for implementing gender issues, with special reference to the elimination of violence against women and girls.
With respect to HIV, what emerged has been one of the most vibrant institutions coordinated within the CARICOM Secretariat, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS, that will be holding its 10th Annual General Meeting in St Maarten beginning on 31 October. This landmark meeting is heralded by the type of successes that have led to its acclaim by the UN as an international best practice. The special COHSOD held in Port 0f Spain in June 2006 resulting in the Declaration on The role of Education in the Accelerated approach to HIV and AIDS is a significant landmark in the PANCAP’s development.
In addition to PANCAP, other institutions attached to this Council have contributed in no small measure to the integration process through functional cooperation. Among them are the Climate Change Centre, the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Medical and other Health Professionals (CAAM-HP), the Caribbean Cooperation in Health (CCH) and the essential work of the five regional health institutions (CAREC, CFNI, CHRC CEHI and CDRTL), soon to be consolidated into one Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). When CARPHA becomes a legal entity, hopefully by the end of 2010, Members of COHSOD could beam with pride that all 12 actionable recommendations of the Nassau Declaration (July 2001) , would have been achieved. Secretary General you too must feel a sense of pride to have been the author of that prescient title “the Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region”.
Worthy of recognition is that COHSOD in April 2004 inaugurated the Commission for Health and Development, chaired by Sir George Alleyne, which produced a seminal Report in 2006. That report stimulated a series of national consultations and presentations to Cabinets throughout the Region. It resulted in the Port of Spain Declaration on Unifying to fight the Non Communicable Diseases, the implementation of its 15 actionable recommendations, and institutionalization of Wellness Day on the second Saturday of September each year. Its principles, ratified at the Summit of the Americas (2009) and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (2007 and 2009) have been the catalyst for the UN Special Session on the NCDs in September 2011. This is a magnificent demonstration of what can be achieved when small states like ours in the Caribbean act collectively on the international stage
As you can see, so much has been achieved since that 4th COHSOD in 2000.There have been some slippages. This meeting is addressing some of them. However, the achievements would not have been possible without the cooperation of Ministers of Government and their technical Officers, the regional institutions and development partners, and of course, the Caribbean Community Secretariat, under the distinguished leadership of H.E. Edwin Carrington.
In the decades of the 80s and 90s, the programmes that now make up this Council were at the root of functional cooperation activities associated with the major successes in the integration process long before the components of economics and trade made their impact. As we move toward the second decade of the 21st century we have a solid foundation on which to build. The report of the Caribbean Commission on youth Development and the many other items on our agenda, point the way
On behalf of the Directorate of Human and Social Development I thank you all for your valuable contributions to this decade of dedicated delivery
Contact: piu@caricom.org
