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Local stakeholders meet on CARICOM reform
“Very solid recommendation” is coming out from the reform talks regarding the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a senior official has said.
A special group of the regional integration body, called the Change Facilitation Team and based at the CARICOM Secretariat, Liliendaal, is working to prepare a five-year strategic plan. The plan is a critical part of the reform process within CARICOM, which has been initiated by Heads of Government. 
Speaking on behalf of the team, Maria Mason-Roberts was high in praise of the organisation of the consultations by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by Ambassador Elisabeth Harper.
According to a CARICOM statement yesterday, Heads of Government approved the outline of the strategic plan in Haiti last February and agreed to appoint representatives with overall responsibility for coordinating and facilitating the process at the national level.
These “Change Drivers” are coordinating the national consultations which are scheduled to be held in all member states and associate members of CARICOM. The first was held in Barbados last June with Guyana as the second. This will be followed by Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago scheduled for September.
The Bahamas, Belize, Haiti, Jamaica and St Kitts and Nevis are scheduled for October. The consultations in member states will include stakeholder groups comprising Heads of Government, Leaders of the Opposition, Members of Parliament, representatives of business, labour, youth and other civil society groups, CARICOM institutions and other regional organizations with headquarters in the member states.
According to CARICOM, the meetings are intended to address the vision, mission and core values of the body and priority areas for attention in the period 2014-18. The meetings are to also examine whether changes are to be made to the governance and management structures of CARICOM.
During a meeting in Suriname last year, CARICOM Heads of Government received a review report of the regional bloc which recommended immediate changes for the body’s continued survival. There have been criticisms that CARICOM just was not working well in a few of the critical areas. These include increased inter-trade between member states and regional movement of skills. CARICOM also wanted more money to run its operations from member states.
The leaders, during that Suriname meeting last year, agreed that it was necessary to re-examine the future direction of the Community and the arrangements for carrying this forward, which would include the role and function of the CARICOM Secretariat.
CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque is leading the change process at the Secretariat and has initiated some corporate reforms within the organisation while awaiting the completion of the Strategic Plan.
The facilitation team, which has a three-year mandate, is being assisted with resources from the Government of the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development (DFID), and began work in the CARICOM Secretariat last November.
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