Devon Rowe, Executive Director of CARICAD I t is not every day that you meet someone who is unusually well-rounded, even though they are specifically trained in Agriculture as well as Project Management. It is not every day that you meet someone who has lived through a volcano, having his home destroyed, who was able to move his family to another island and rebuild his life – from scratch. It is also not every day that you work with someone with a set of skills so diverse that he can create intrinsic bridges to communication throughout the islands of the Caribbean. It is not every day, nor every week, nor year, nor decade that you would ever meet someone just like Franklyn “Frankie” Michael. When I first joined CARICAD as executive director in 2016, I was amazed at Frankie’s ability to convey ideas in writing, with arguments composed in a cogent format. This ability I found to be second to none. It was not just about his technical training but more so his ability to construct thoughts from technical activities. This talent for constructing logic that fits with wider public sector management was extremely useful to the work of CARICAD. It should therefore be no surprise that Frankie as an excellent speaker and practically a walking lexicon, has been able to meet with many high -level country leaders, and had the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently. He possessed the communicative competence to articulate what he had to say, in the appropriate context, so that anyone could understand. The diversity he brought to CARICAD extended to the sessions that he facilitated. He was always able to teach seamlessly, without it seeming like a job, which was just another dimension to the variegated person that is Frankie Michael. He was able to bring a welcoming air of comfort and warmth into each session to make the completion of tasks more Continues on next page 2
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