VERT participants to be certified

─ CDC, UG sign agreement

DPI, Guyana, Sunday, March 17, 2019

Upon completion of the Voluntary Emergency Response Team (VERT) programme, participants will graduate with an Introduction to Disaster Management certificate from the University of Guyana (UG).

During the official launch of the course on Sunday at Camp Madewini, Timehri (East Bank Demerara), the Director-General (ag) of the Civil Defence Commission, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic Engagement, University of Guyana, Professor Michael Scott inked the agreement.

The partnership is part of the “sensitising, deepening and widening of the volunteer footprint in Guyana for resilient communities,” Professor Scott stated during brief remarks.

He highlighted that “Guyana’s vulnerable seacoast, climate change and the imperatives of the impending oil boom and its potential hazards demand a culture of safety and planned responsiveness to emergency volunteers”.

“Lieutenant Colonel Craig’s leadership brought UG very close to your activities, and my first meeting with his team indicated the level of seriousness they have attached to volunteering,” the professor added.

Some participants of the VERT programme

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic Engagement, University of Guyana, Professor Michael Scott, and Director-General (ag) of the Civil Defence Commission, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig sign the agreement

[In the photo, from left] Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic Engagement, University of Guyana, Professor Michael Scott and Director-General (ag) of the Civil Defence Commission, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig

The acting CDC head disclosed that the partnership would provide interns from UG with an opportunity to better understand risk management and apply the skills learned.

“This is more of an advanced programme where volunteers will be trained in detail disaster risk management primarily to support the communities and the regions but more importantly to support the Caribbean,” Lieutenant Colonel Craig explained.

The programme is a collaborative effort with ExxonMobil and will be executed over one year. It will see volunteers being trained in several areas. Some of these include Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis; Community Based Disaster Risk Management; First Aid Emergency Medical Response; Oil Spill Response, Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Management among others.

Anara Khan

Images: Jules Gibson