The Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce received exceptional support from the Private Sector and Stakeholders for its first Eggs & Issues Breakfast for 2019 captioned, “CREAD and its Vision of a Resilient Dominica.” Attendee feedback was extremely positive with commitments to support Dominica’s overall resilience agenda.

Keynote Speaker Dr. Pepukaye Bardouille, CEO of CREAD, enlightened attendees on the vision, strategic priorities and work plan of the organization. Dr. Bardouille emphasized that CREAD’s role is to lead the initial phase of Dominica’s journey towards climate resilience by helping to build strong communities and adaptive infrastructure, and supporting the creation of sustainable economic opportunities.

It was pointed out that CREAD will also play a significant role in enhancing Dominica’s institutional systems—that is policies, plans, procedures, structures and capacity.  This is to ensure that the journey towards climate resilience continues unceasing even after CREAD’s mandate has expired. It is also fundamental that each citizen and resident in Dominica becomes conscious of actions that lead to resilience.

A notable takeaway from this presentation was that to be able to sustainably finance the ambition, Dominica must carefully develop and manage our four unique asset bases—our history, culture and “lived experience”; our unique geology and topography; our rich soils and deep forests known as our “green economy”; and our fresh water and extensive coastal and sea resource known as our “blue economy”.

Given the sheer number of both challenges and opportunities, CREAD’s approach is to focus on “Flagship Projects”. These are projects that demonstrate how bold, innovative ideas can be developed and delivered at scale.

Dr. Bardouille emphasized that Dominica has a history of being indomitable—of having a spirit that thrives despite struggles, from injustices faced centuries ago through colonization of our native peoples and slavery, to continuing to rise following the devastation of Tropical Storm Erika and Hurricane Maria. “This spirit needs to be harnessed and channeled into a national collective consciousness through which each Dominican takes personal responsibility where they can—be it protecting the vulnerable amongst us or keeping the nature island pristine—and working actively to keep this nation indomitable in the face of unpredictable global socio-economic cha, as well as climatic threats”, she said.

Mr. Sheldon Casimir, PRO of DAIC expressed his satisfaction with the presentation made by Dr. Bardouille and the vision of CREAD for a resilient Dominica. Mr. Casimir

stated, “from my understanding, CREAD is not just mapping out a plan from top down but reaching out to persons within the private sector to develop partnerships for a bottom up approach on strategies for achieving resilience.”

Executive Director of DAIC, Lizra Fabien declared that there are opportunities for our Private Sector to be involved in the resilience agenda of Dominica through various ways.  Ms. Fabien stated, “The DAIC is developing a few flagship projects to contribute to the overall resilience agenda of Dominica. We are also encouraging our Membership and wider Private Sector to also share with us flagships that will make a difference for our Private Sector and country at large.”

Ms. Fabien further stated that DAIC is creating and populating a database which is to be completed by end of second quarter 2019 capturing the skills of residents at all levels which will support this overall resilience agenda.

Additionally, DAIC encourages individuals who desire to volunteer with CREAD based on their areas of expertise to register with the DAIC office at the top floor of Prevo Cinemall or by emailing chamber.daic@gmail.com.