Backgrounder – Canada Announces Support for Disaster Recovery, Gender Equality in Caribbean Region

OTTAWA, Ontario, Sept. 6 -- Global Affairs Canada, an arm of the Canadian government, issued the following news release:

This project will support efforts to rebuild and restore five primary schools in Dominica, including to make them climate-resilient. It will also provide these schools with the services, equipment and materials that they need. More than 1,300 children and 80 teachers will benefit from this initiative. The project will also fund Dominica's Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility premium over the next two years, to ensure that essential services can continue to be delivered in the event of any future crisis.

Targeted support to Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)

Implementing Partner: CDEMA

Funding: $8.2 million over five years

This project will improve CDEMA's ability to support the implementation of CARICOM's Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy by strengthening CDEMA's Regional Response Mechanism. The project will improve regional emergency telecommunication equipment and train three specialized response teams. It will also establish a Canada-Caribbean Disaster Response Local Fund which will support small local projects in affected countries in the early recovery period following natural disasters. CDEMA's 18 participating states will benefit from this initiative: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Virgin Islands.

Women's Voice and Leadership - Caribbean

Implementing Partner: MATCH International Centre

Funding: $4.8 million over five years

This project will support grassroots organizations that advance women's rights in the Caribbean region, particularly those working with vulnerable and marginalized women and girls. Canada's assistance will support efforts to improve the capacity of these women's rights organizations' to deliver programs, promote women's rights, and advocate for changes in laws, attitudes and behaviours to advance women's empowerment and gender equality in the region.