Former CDC Head now Deputy Executive Director of CDEMA

Nov 01, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Former Director General of the Guyana Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig will now serve as Deputy Executive Director of the Council of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) effective from January 3, 2023.

Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig, incoming new Deputy Executive Director of the Council of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

This was announced by the Chair of the Management Committee of the CDEMA, Ambassador Elma Gene Isaac of Saint Lucia on Monday.

CDEMA in a release said that Lieutenant Colonel Craig, is a disaster risk management practitioner, with over twenty-five years of military service and more than sixteen years disaster management experience working with community groups, government agencies, and national, regional, and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the local government, health, security, private and environmental sectors.

Having served as Director General of CDC for 5 years up until July 2022, Mr. Craig also previously held the positions of Deputy Director General and Operations and Training Officer at the Civil Defence Commission, Guyana, Avionics Supervisor and Adjutant at Air Corps and Infantry Commander/Platoon Commander for the Guyana Defence Force’s First Infantry Battalion.

The release states that he further served as the Chairman and member of the CDEMA Plan Development and Review Subcommittee for seven years. In addition, he has been the Vice Chairman of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Special Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, Founder and President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Alumni (Guyana), Founder and Coordinator of the CDC’s Volunteer Corps, and member of the National Disaster Risk Management Platform and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM).

CDEMA noted that he is the holder of a Master of Public Administration – Emergency Management from Walden University, a Bachelor of Arts in Emergency and Disaster Management (Honours) from the America Military University, an Advanced Diploma in Project Management from The Business School, and an Advanced Diploma in Aeronautical Engineering from the Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School.

He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute and recipient of the Military Efficiency Medal (MEM).

These qualifications the agency shared are complemented by various professional development certifications in the field of climate change and disaster risk management, hydrology and hydraulics modeling, and National Emergency Operations Centre Management, among others.

Having been appointed Deputy Executive Director at CDEMA, Lieutenant Colonel Craig is said to lead the Technical Programme Management Division (TPMD) which is responsible for the strategic and technical leadership of the Agency’s Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programme in the areas of Response, Recovery, Preparedness, Disaster Risk Reduction, Education, Research and Training.

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