The Government wishes to reaffirm its commitment to pursuing its vision of making Dominica the first climate resilient nation and to confirm that its policies projects programmes to date, are all on course to achieving this objective.
The Act establishing the Climate Resilience Executing Agency was passed in December 2018. CREAD was set up to assist Government in the pursuit of the climate resilience vision. Its governance structure includes a Policy Board chaired by the Prime Minister and a Supervisory Committee chaired by the representative of one of our donor partners. The CREAD management and staff are responsible for the day to day running of CREAD.
CREAD though an independent statutory body established by legislation, is properly aligned to the national Government framework and as such works closely with the Government System. The model chosen by Dominica is considered a hybrid, whereby, recovery action is implemented by a combination of CREAD and existing line Ministries.
Since the post Hurricane declaration of this bold vision in 2017, Government has firmly set itself on the path to resilience with the achievements of three milestones to date, namely:
.The Development and completion of a National Resilience Development Strategy 2030
.The establishment of the Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica,
December, 2018.
.The production of the Dominica Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan, May 2020; The Nation Resilience Development Strategy (NRDS) Dominica 2030, was developed and approved by Government in August 2018. It is a home grown document, with leadership provided by the Committee of Permanent Secretaries and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development. It builds on a combination of previously existing policies and strategies, including the Growth and Social Protection Strategy, the Climate Change Adaptation Policy, and the Low Carbon Climate Resilience Development Strategy. It therefore integrates climate resilience and disaster risk management into the National Growth and Development Planning Framework.
For the respective Ministries and Sectors as currently configured, this national vision has now been translated into their portfolio responsibilities and has informed Dominica’s Public Sector Investment Projects and the work programmes of the Ministry since the approval of the NRDS.
In keeping with Governments’ Policy, the National Resilience Development Strategy formed the basis for the production of the Climate Resilience Recovery Plan. This is informed by the detailed sectoral strategic plans developed from the NRDS.
The CRRP is based on three main pillars:
.Climate-Resilient Systems;
.Prudent Disaster Risk Management;
. Effective Disaster Response and Recovery.
The CRRP is for Dominica, not just a national plan but a national movement towards resilience, that transcends the skill sets, ideas and capacity of any individual. Work on that plan commenced during the transition before CREAD came into being. It was an effort by the Government and a transition team to begin the process as soon as possible after the development of the National Strategy (NRDS). A consultant was engaged to prepare a plan seeking input from a number of regional agencies, the public and private sector, guided by forty-three objectives, listed in a monitoring matrix annexed to the approved NRDS.
This was further refined and shaped with the input of the CREAD team and officials from the Planning Ministry, and then discussed with other stake holders at a national consultation, to elicit their input before formal approval. The CRRP comprises 20 climate resilience targets and 6 major results areas. Its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Office are now tasked with leading the implementation of its work programme and mandate.
CREAD is currently working on a work programme that must align with the letter and spirit of the vision and mission of Government as articulated in the detailed NRDS and CRRP. Among other initiatives, CREAD is also working with the Ministry of Public Works to develop and establish a Major Capital Projects Unit, that will be tasked with delivering on major projects that are part of Government’s resilience agenda.
Government confirms that the COO resigned in May 31, 2020, after serving notice on January 24th this year and that the CEO has also resigned and will be demitting her post on the 31st of July 2020. These resignations are their personal decisions, that Government must accept in good faith, but they will not interrupt unduly the fulfillment of the mandate of CREAD. The position of COO will be redefined and Government has already begun the recruitment process through the recruitment agency utilized previously, to obtain a replacement for the CEO and we expect that subject to this process and the prevailing world health situation, that someone will be in place before Dr. Bardouille leaves, to allow for a seamless transition process.
We thank the outgoing CEO Dr. Pep Bardouille and COO Mr. Colin Scaife, for their respective contribution to CREAD and wish them every success in their new endeavours. We also take this opportunity to thank our international partners and all those who have assisted in advancing Dominica’s resilience programme.
For any further information and clarification Please contact
Secretary to the Cabinet.
[email protected]
