CCRIF invites applications for funded training programmes at UWI

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) is inviting individuals to apply for their funded training programmes in geography, natural hazards or economics at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

The CCRIF has been providing internships to recent university undergraduates and postgraduate students from the Caribbean who have earned degrees in areas such as disaster risk management, environmental management, geography, civil engineering, and climate studies, at regional and national institutions.

Interested persons can reach the entity at www.ccrif.org.

Vice Chairman, Saundra Bailey, said the Facility has awarded 190 grants since 2010, amounting to US$2 million, and spent over US$500,000 on 200 youth in the region, through their internship programme.

Addressing the recent launch of the Papine High School greenhouse in St Andrew, where they provided US$25,000 for its buildout, the vice chairman said applications can be made for grants “to build community resilience to natural hazards, such as hurricanes and earthquakes”.

“Because we operate as a development insurer, we put our surpluses into initiatives that support our members to build resilience to the many natural hazards that we are exposed to,” she added.

Under their Small Grants Programme, the organisation provides grants of US$2,500 to US$25,000 to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based groups, service clubs, universities and schools, to implement projects that are aligned with their mandate.

The CCRIF was developed under the technical leadership of the World Bank, with a grant from the Government of Japan.

It was conceptualised as a multi-donor trust fund by the Government of Canada, the European Union (EU), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Governments of the United Kingdom (UK), France, Ireland and Bermuda.