Continued from previous page CARICAD’s Executive Director Devon Rowe with former CDEMA Executive Director Ronald Jackson at the signing of an MOU. CARICAD had previously leveraged a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to obtain periodic ICT services. In addition, a partnership with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) offered the opportunity to receive technical analysis and advice on potential options to pursue for future CARICAD projects. The advice suggested, among other things, the use of ‘cloud solutions’ for improved efficiency and effectiveness. That would provide CARICAD with an opportunity to step back from the looming expense of file servers which were in urgent need of replacement. The imminent technology improvement meant that most of the CARICAD team could now be located and working from almost anywhere. The development and approval of a new Remote Work Policy was therefore seen as an essential contributor to regulate working arrangements for staff who would not be physically present at the Headquarters in Barbados. Budgetary provisions were made in 2019/20 and approved by the Board for the acquisition of new technology aids to buttress the resources at the Centre. Enhancement of existing skills at CARICAD was also required and changes were made to staff responsibilities to facilitate the new way of working. The CARICAD team travels to various assignments across the Caribbean and monitoring the dynamics of the regional and international developments is important. On January 22, 2020, CARICAD began to pay much closer attention to developments associated with the Coronavirus. The extreme steps being taken by China and memories of SARS in 2003 raised fears of the virus travelling to the Caribbean. Later in January 2020, Canada identified the first case of coronavirus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), WHO's highest level of alarm, further indicating the seriousness of the virus. Continues on next page 2
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