The Caribbean Local Econo-mic Development (Cariled) Programme has announced the appointment of a new Canadian Programme Director, Alix Yule. Yule replaces Dr. Naresh Singh who resigned in February.
A release from Cariled’s Trinidad office said that Yule who joined the Cariled team on Monday, will direct the six-year Canadian Inter-national Development Agency (CIDA)-funded Local Economic Development (LED) project within 14 Caribbean countries.
Yule will first be based at the project’s Canadian execution agency – Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. She joins the team in the field on a local area economic profile (LAEP) mission in Trinidad. The mission team will be made up of Caribbean and Canadian volunteers and consultants, in collaboration with representatives of the Ministry of Local Government and relevant stakeholders.
The release said that Yule brings a wealth of knowledge to Cariled with over 20 years of experience in the field of international development in a number of countries in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. She has managed several LED and local governance bilateral projects, and has had extensive experience in Results Based Management.
Yule will be based at Cariled’s Headquarters in Trinidad & Tobago, and will manage operations there and oversee the two sub-offices in St. Lucia and Ottawa, Canada.
The release said that in January 2013, Cariled completed Local Area Economic Profile (LAEP) missions in five of seven demonstration countries that will be the focus of the first two programme phases. The LAEP missions will continue in Jamaica and Tobago later this year.
The release said that the programme, funded by CIDA, is focused on local economic development projects, and will in two phases eventually work in fourteen Caribbean countries with the aim of partnering with 50 local government authorities to support the growth and development of approximately 500 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Singh resigned in February to pursue his interest in the post of Deputy Caricom Secretary-General. The original offer of a position to him was withdrawn after questions were raised in Canada about an investigation in relation to a possible conflict of interest.
