In response to a report early last year that warned that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) is in crisis and urged urgent measures to turn it around, the Secretariat has its own restructuring as a priority area in 2013.
This is according to a press release the regional body sent out yesterday following a recent interview with Secretary General Irwin LaRocque. The revamp was one of the recommendations of the Landell Mills Consultancy and as a result of the findings, Heads of Government had mandated a strategic plan and change process to bring the necessary transformations to reality.
“We have already lined up the necessary resources to get it done and I intend to start in earnest the change process or the transformation process that our Heads have mandated. With the assistance of [British Department for International Development DfID] we have been able to engage a change facilitator who will be advising me on the way forward,” the statement quoted LaRocque as saying. “But the change process and the leadership of the change process rest with me. So it’s going to occupy a significant amount of my time,” he said.
The release said that while the change will begin at the Secretariat, it is intended to sweep the Community as a whole – its organs and its institutions. LaRocque said that it was clear that there was need for some transformation to make the Secretariat and the Community more effective and efficient.
“…the change process … is not just about the Secretariat; it is about the Community. It is about changing what we do, how we move forward. It’s about prioritizing what we do as a Community. I have said before: it can’t be business as usual. We can’t be all things to all people. We need to focus, make advances and have an impact on the ground with the people of the Community,” the release quoted LaRocque as saying.
The Secretary General said too that the community will next year advance some aspects of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).
“One of the questions that I get throughout the Community when I interact – particularly among the young people – is the movement of CARICOM nationals. Some attention will be paid to that and Contingent Rights as well so that the rights attendant upon moving throughout the Community will be also addressed. So there are a number of big issues which will be on our plate. I will pay equal attention to social aspects and to functional cooperation aspects of integration, along with the CSME,” the release quoted LaRocque as saying.
LaRocque said too that 2013 will also see a continuation of the outreach and advocacy missions he had undertaken since his tenure began in 2011. “The Associate Members – Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands – will be targeted this time around as they are an integral part of what we are doing,” he said.
Early last year, a report, entitled, ‘Turning Around Caricom: Proposals to Restructure the Secretariat, and authored by Richard Stoneman, Justice Duke Pollard and Hugo Inniss, declared that Caricom is in crisis.
It said that for Caricom to survive and eventually prosper, there must be full and unequivocal support from member states; a focus on delivering a narrow range of specific, practical and achievable benefits over a reasonably short time span; and a credible reorganisation and strengthening of the movement, including the Secretariat and regional institutions.
The authors of the report warned that the community “could be brought down quickly” if the international economic situation worsens. They noted that many member states are highly-indebted and further financial downturn could see significant funding for the Secretariat and regional institutions cut off at short notice.
The report’s authors said too that there is evidence that over the next few years some of Caricom’s 15 member states, frustrated by its slow progress, could begin to leave the union. They called on Caricom to develop a five year strategy to deliver on the community’s priorities.
