Regional

CPDC to host Forum of the Greater Caribbean
During 1999, the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) will be staging the Civil Society Forum of the Greater Caribbean on the Decentralized Cooperation mechanism of the Caribbean Regional Indicative Program (DC-CRIP). This is a regional donor agreement between the CARIFORUM and the European Commission.

The CPDC is currently collaborating with the Caribbean Development Bank on an analysis of the current NGO financial situation as well as conducting a feasibility study for the setting up of a financial institution for the NGO movement. This will also provide an avenue for the monitoring of Post Lome IV negotiations.

The CPDC Secretarial will be targeting membership participation through a national and regional level economic literacy campaign. Feedback from this initiative will inform advocacy at the international level.

Documenting Caribbean NGOs
Four persons from the Caribbean received the Commonwealth Foundation NGO Documentation Fellowship in September 1998. The first set of fellowships has as its theme “Lessons in Empowerment”. It is being run as a pilot project in the Caribbean region.

The three-month fellowship is a new analysis and documentation award provided by the Foundation to assist in the production of a series of publications featuring outstanding NGO work, especially from developing countries of the Commonwealth.

The Fellows, their organization and research themes are as follows:

Andaiye(Guyana) – Red Thread: building a women’s NGO in Guyana

Horace Levy (Jamaica) – The programs of the Social Action Centre, Jamaica

Regina Dumas (Trinidad and Tobago) – NGOs and networking: the experience of the Windward Islands

Dylan Vernon (Belize) – Strengthening civil society in Belize.