Close to fifty secondary CXC-level teachers have been trained to integrate information on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) into their school’s curriculum. The two-day training, which opened on Thursday February 5, is part of the CARICOM Trade and Competitiveness Project (CTCP) Component 300 that seeks to widen the scope of participation by stakeholders and beneficiaries in the process of decision-making, implementation and operation of the CSME Information Flows.
It is being funded by the Government of Canada and executed by a Saint Lucia based firm, Right Angle Imaging Consultancy, with institutional support from the CARICOM Secretariat CSME Unit and the Guyana Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In brief opening remarks, Deputy Chief Education (Development), Ministry of Education, Ms. Doodmattie Singh deemed the training timely and relevant to the ministry’s current curricular revision process. She urged the teachers, many of who teach Social Studies and Caribbean History, to share their knowledge within their respective schools and departments upon completion of the training.
Technical Coordinator within the Technical Action Services Unit, CARICOM Secretariat, Mr. Melbour Phillip, who welcomed the teachers, emphasized the importance of sharing the vision of Oneness, the intent of the CSME through the creation of a single seamless space for all Caribbean nationals to move freely. He gave an overview of the CTCP noting that free movement is the most accessed regime. Phillip encouraged the educators to assist in instilling a greater awareness of regional integration within their students who are poised as potential beneficiaries under the CSME.
The teachers were also engaged in presentations on the CSME legal and institutional framework delivered by O’Neil Francis, Legal Officer, Legal and Institutional Framework, CARICOM Secretariat, and Deputy Programme Manager, Education at the CARICOM Secretariat, Ms Patricia McPherson.
Lead facilitator of the workshop, Dr Gordon Harwood, a Regional curriculum specialist, will conduct workshop sessions on Friday February 6 with a focus on imparting knowledge and competencies among participants through exposure to student centered activities grounded upon content and concepts relevant to regional integration and the CSME.
Under the CTCP, a number of other activities that form part of the Information Flows sub-component of the project have been facilitated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These included a cross-sectoral Communication for Development (C4D) workshop with a focus on participatory feedback on a national CSME public education and communication strategy for Guyana. A number of worksite meetings were also held to update stakeholders on Guyana’s CSME implementation progress since signing on in January 2006. Questions were also fielded by the participants who represented public and private agencies and institutions that support the processes associated with the CSME Regimes, citizens’ access and benefits.
Other activities earmarked for Guyana under the Information Flows component of the project include a Spokespersons Training workshop on February 9 and 10 and a Media Workshop slated for February 16-17. Both workshops are capacity building exercises aimed at enhancing the human resource pool of persons capable of articulating on CSME issues across media platforms, and creating greater awareness, interest and participation of Guyanese in the CSME. The information flows project now underway in Guyana is also ongoing in Jamaica, Belize, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada to increase the number and types of information channels promoting the CARICOM Single Market to CARICOM nationals.
