O n March 8th, CARICAD and the Barbados Vocational Training Board (BVTB) also came together to celebrate the joint 40th anniversary at a church service held at the St. Barnabas Church. Remarks were given by the Honourable Santia Bradshaw, M.P., Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training and by Chairman of CARICAD Mr. Konata Lee. BVTB’s Chairman Mr. Benjamin Niles and Director of Training Mr. Henderson Thompson made presentations at the service. Chairman of CARICAD Konata Lee as he delivered remarks on the behalf of CARICAD. Chairman of CARICAD Konata Lee (left) with Selwyn Smith, the first Executive Secretary of CARICAD at the recent anniversary church service. By BCC student Sonja Moses P lans are in motion to engage in an accelerated level of improving knowledge of CARICAD in Barbados and in the region, particularly in the area of access to information. CARICAD currently works with 17 Caribbean territories and in each one, the organisation tries to ensure that its mandate is known and that it is open to provide support to the public sector in general. Executive Director of CARICAD Devon Rowe said, “There are varying levels of what we do, but this being our 40th anniversary, we are going to be out in the media more often. Not only to be known though, but to let people know that we are here to help the public sector across the Caribbean.” One of the issues for some institutions in Barbados is access to information. CARICAD recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of the West Indies allowing for greater access to research materials for students. Since then CARICAD has not put forth any other plans for other learning institutions, such as the Barbados Community College (BCC) or the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI). “We have not put forth a formal MOU with another educational institution in the Caribbean as yet. Just thinking about BCC, the absence of an MOU does not stop us from collaborating with the institution as we are doing today. The MOU with BCC if we were to go to that level, would be something we would have to discuss further in-house and also engage the leadership of BCC as well. CARICAD, notwithstanding, remains open to all forms of collaborative approaches including internships to the extent they align with one’s objectives,” Mr. Rowe stated. He continued, “Students always have access to us here, we already have a relationship with SJPI; we are quite open to taking interns from BCC but as you may have seen our resources are quite small so we have to engage very carefully in terms of the work that we do. Outside of interns we are always prepared to open our doors up for you to come look at our library and do research as is required.” CARICAD has hosted several interns from the BCC over the years. 4
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