Catalyzing implementation of the Strategic Action Programme for the Caribbean (original) (raw)
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Strengthening integrated research and capacity development within the Caribbean region
Background: The Caribbean region, like other developing regions of the world, faces significant challenges in conducting research, especially in the context of limited resource capacities and capabilities. Further, due to its diverse and multiple island states, research capacity is scattered and unevenly spread within the region. The Caribbean EcoHealth Programme (CEHP) is a research program that is structured to improve the capacity and capability of health professionals in the Caribbean region to respond in integrative and innovative ways to ongoing and emerging environmental health challenges by means of multi-sectoral interventions. Methods: Core parts of the CEHP's mission are to (1) conduct collaborative research in areas that the region has identified as critical; (2) build and strengthening integrated approaches to research; and (3) develop and enhance basic research capacity within the Caribbean region. Fundamental to the success of the CEHP's human and resource development mission has been its use of the Atlantis Mobile Laboratory (AML). The AML has allowed the CEHP program to move throughout the Caribbean and be able to respond to calls for specific research and capacity building opportunities. Results: The CEHP's five main research projects have generated the following results: (1) the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) study has evaluated human exposures to POPs, heavy metals, pesticides, and zoonotic infections;
Scoping Science-Policy Arenas for Regional Ocean Governance in the Wider Caribbean Region
Frontiers in Marine Science, 2021
This paper explores the diversity of relationships that exist between science and policy and which underpin the uptake of science in oceans policy-making in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR). We refer to these complex relationships, influenced by organizational culture and environments, as science-policy arenas. The paper examines the types of decisions that require science input, where the decision-making responsibility lies, who the science providers are, and how science gets translated into advice for a suite of 20 regional Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs). The picture that emerges is one of a diverse suite of well-structured and active science-policy processes, albeit with several deficiencies. These processes appear to be somewhat separated from a broad diversity of potential science inputs. The gap appears largely due to lack of accessibility and interest in both directions (providers <-> consumers), with IGOs apparently preferring to use a relatively small subset of available expertise. At the same time, there is a small number of boundary-spanners, many of which are newly emerging, that carry out a diversity of functions in seeking to address the gap. Based on our scoping assessment, there is an urgent need for actors to understand the networks of interactions and actively develop them for science-policy interfaces to be effective and efficient. This presents a major challenge for the region where most countries are small and have little if any science capacity. Innovative mechanisms that focus more on processes for accessing science than on assembling inventories of available information are needed. A managed information hub that can be used to build teams of scientists and advisors to address policy questions may be effective for the WCR given its institutional complexity. More broadly, recognition of the potential value of boundary spanning activities in getting science into policy is needed. Capacity for these should be built and boundary spanning organizations encouraged, formalized and mainstreamed.
Exploring Excellent Research Capacities in the Caribbean: the EUCARINET project
The paper, building on some reflections on the ICT research capacities and dynamics of the Caribbean region, claims that the region is in the position to be included in international research consortium, not only in the ICT field but in other research areas that strongly rely on ICT for their development. The European Commission EUCARINET project is briefly presented, focussing on the results of a bibliometric survey that show, in the period 2001-2009, an increasing research collaboration dynamic both within the Caribbean and between Caribbean researchers and European counterparts. Finally, some reflections on the main challenges that the Caribbean research systems face internationally and some recommendations to improve the situation are presented. 1. The Caribbean: a rather unexplored region for research collaboration The Caribbean region is a mosaic of 38 territories of more than 5,2 million km², whereas nearly 250 million people cohabit in this space and speak four languages: En...
A First Look at the Science-Policy Interface for Ocean Governance in the Wider Caribbean Region
Frontiers in Marine Science, 2016
Weak governance is a root cause of the problems constraining the sustainable management of shared living marine resources within the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR). Integral to any fully functioning policy cycle in governance is the communication of marine science data and information, through the stages of the policy cycle, ultimately for use in decision-making. The networks of ties between science and policy constitute science-policy interfaces. Connecting science to policy is a major issue confronting the world today in efforts to achieve sustainable development. In order to develop a regional science-policy interface for ocean governance in the WCR we must first understand what currently exists. In this paper we describe the process and product of an interview investigation of the marine science-policy interface in the WCR. Policy discussions that used marine science extensively were infrequent. Constraints on use of science included low capacity, science not being provided in policy-relevant format, not having easy access to databases, and low policy demand for science. There is little transboundary marine science information sharing except through informal social networks. The absence of a culture of evidence-based policy-making in the region must be addressed before there will be any significant change in use of properly packaged marine science. External influences, political context, science and evidence, links, and networks are used to systematize the key learning.
Background: Addressing the uptake of research findings into policy-making is increasingly important for researchers who ultimately seek to contribute to improved health outcomes. The aims of the Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development (r4d Programme) initiated by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation are to create and disseminate knowledge that supports policy changes in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This paper reports on five r4d research projects and shows how researchers engage with various stakeholders, including policy-makers, in order to assure uptake of the research results. Methods: Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with principal investigators and their research partners from five r4d projects, using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews explored the process of how stakeholders and policy-makers were engaged in the research project. Results: Three key strategies were identified as fostering research uptake into policies and practices: (S1) stakehold-ers directly engaged with and sought evidence from researchers; (S2) stakeholders were involved in the design and throughout the implementation of the research project; and (S3) stakeholders engaged in participatory and transdis-ciplinary research approaches to coproduce knowledge and inform policy. In the first strategy, research evidence was directly taken up by international stakeholders as they were actively seeking new evidence on a very specific topic to update international guidelines. In the second strategy, examples from two r4d projects show that collaboration with stakeholders from early on in the projects increased the likelihood of translating research into policy, but that the latter was more effective in a supportive and stable policy environment. The third strategy adopted by two other r4d projects demonstrates the benefits of promoting colearning as a way to address potential power dynamics and working effectively across the local policy landscape through robust research partnerships. Conclusions: This paper provides insights into the different strategies that facilitate collaboration and communication between stakeholders, including policy-makers, and researchers. However, it remains necessary to increase our understanding of the interests and motivations of the different actors involved in the process of influencing policy,
Creating research culture in Caribbean universities
International Journal of Educational Development, 2010
Background The small states of the Caribbean, like their counterparts in other regions of the world, are subject to the pressures of globalisation. Bacchus (2008) wrote here of economic challenges occasioned by the openness of economies, advocating educational reform in these states as the best antidote to external pressuresreform aimed at providing citizens of the region with flexibility enhancing knowledge and skills. In like vein Louisy (2001) has written of the vulnerability of the region to threats of cultural convergence, and of the risk of the marginalisation of the small Caribbean states. In particular she points to limited national and regional institutional capacity for knowledge creation-a capacity that she believes, if improved, could improve the leverage of governments of the region in international forums where prospects for the region are discussed. Thus she advocates that the University of the West Indies (UWI), which is supported by 14 governments in the region, should disseminate the results of research based on regional problems. She writes that the region ''would benefit tremendously from the ready availability of a sound, well researched body of knowledge on the social, economic, political and cultural realities of the region'' p. 430. Crossley (2001, 2008) has addressed the question of the need for building institutional capacity for research in small states generally, including the Caribbean, cautioning in the process that there be epistemological diversity-the valuing of both positivistic and qualitative modes. One globalisation trend has been the expansion of tertiary education, with developing countries accounting for about onefifth of the world's enrolment (Schofer and Meyer, 2005). The new institutions that emerge with this expansion face a number of challenges. A World Bank report has codified some of these as (a) absence of vision; (b) lack of political and financial commitment; (c) conditions of initial disadvantage; and (d) the disruptions of globalisation (The Task Force on Higher Education and Society, 2000). According to this report, a critical ''initial disadvantage'' of these countries is that they start with a poor baseline where scientific inquiry is concerned, by not having the necessary intellectual culture needed to sustain it. This disadvantage could be especially acute where the intent is to create research universities. While they constitute a higher order of challenge there is support for the prospect that developing countries should embark upon creating research universities. A UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research & Knowledge (2006) yielded presentations that were in support of this. In his keynote, A.H. Zakri, Director of United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies, pointed out that while the prospects for success in creating research universities in developing countries were not high; many such countries have developed world-class research programmes. In support, he cited examples such as the Philippines (rice), Chile (astronomy), India (mathematics) and Cuba (health). Zakri contended that the problem of poverty cannot be successfully tackled absent the existence of thriving R&D cultures in universities in the developing world. He framed the needs in terms of research capacity (facilities and human resources), research utility (need for relevant research) and research productivity (ability to better serve society). Resonating with this, Altbach (2007) made the case for developing countries creating research universities as part of development efforts, suggesting
A strategic approach to research and development
What works?Evidence-based policy and practice in public services, 2000
During the past few years there has been a surge of interest in the theory and practice of 'evidence-based policy', both in the academic community and among policy makers. In early 1999, two important national conferences on evidence-based policy were held: one under the auspices of the Association of Research Centres in the Social Sciences (ARCISS), and the other convened by the School of Public Policy at University College London in association with the Cochrane Centre at Oxford. These key events coincided with the finalisation of the ESRC's plans for a new national Resource Centre for Evidence-Based Policy which will draw together high-quality research evidence to support policy makers and practitioners in a variety of policy domains; at the same time, the journal Public Money and Management devoted a special issue to a series of case studies on evidence-based policy. The current volume stems from that seminal collection. In searching for an explanation of why this surge of interest has occurred at the present time the editors rightly point to such factors as the expansion and availability of relevant social science knowledge, the decline in deference to government and the demand for greater public accountability. Correspondingly, the enthusiasm on the part of government for systematic and well-focused evidence reflects, as they perceive it, the rapidly changing and more complex character of the society with which they have to deal: a challenge which requires foresight, accurate knowledge and rigorous analysis. These high-level concerns about the need to improve the quality of policy making form a distinct stream within the Modernising Government White Paper which was published in March 1999. They have led to the creation of new units within the Cabinet Office such as the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) and the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU), whose job it is to develop policy initiatives in a much more research based way through cross-departmental teams (including the involvement of experts from outside Government). The Centre for Management and Policy Studies (CMPS), which began its work in June 1999, has been given the special task of developing a new approach to policy making based on the latest techniques of knowledge management. CMPS, PIU
GCFI, 2020
Making science relevant: The Role of Science in the Effective Governance of the Caribbean Sea, North Brazilian shelf, and the Gulf of Mexico Prepared by Robin Mahon CERMES, UWI The principle that decisions regarding conservation and management of living marine resources should be based on the 'best available scientific evidence' (BASE) is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) (United Nations 1982) for both EEZs and the High Seas 1. Countries and their regional organizations are legally obligated to operationalize this principle. Consequently, it has become well established in national, regional, and global management policies and agreements. Nonetheless, there is considerable room for interpretation of the meaning of 'best' and 'available' (Wolters et al. 2016). Even with the best intentions, managers have found many challenges to developing, obtaining, and using the best available scientific evidence. These challenges range from low capacity to produce or access relevant scientific evidence, through poor communication of science to decision makers, to governance processes that are poorly structured or inadequately structured for the uptake of scientific advice. The problem is that governance processes resort to making decisions without the BASE, or delaying them based on a lack of such information. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Foresight Process on Emerging Environmental Issues for the twenty-first century concluded that the cross-cutting issue "Broken Bridges: Reconnecting Science and Policy" was a pressing problem globally hampering efforts to achieve sustainable development (UNEP 2012). The problem of linking science and policy has been extensively discussed in the literature for decades (e.g., Rice, 2005; Chilvers and Evans, 2009) and more recently, the adoption of ecosystem based approaches to management has resulted in renewed attention to this issue (Borja et al. 2017). Developing countries and regions, particularly those with Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) are especially affected by the challenges outlined above. The Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) is one such region, as has been noted by the GEF Transboundary Diagnostic Analyses (TDAs) (Heileman 2011; Phillips 2011; Mahon et al. 2011; CLME 2011). McConney et al. (2016) explored the challenges that the WCR faces in moving towards the use of BASE in governance of coastal and marine resources. Consequently, the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem Strategic Action Programme (CLME+ SAP) has identified the development and implementation of a strategy to promote the uptake of science in management as an important component of sustainable use of living marine resources in the region (Debels et al. 2017). This chapter examines the challenges to the use of BASE for LMR management in the region and recommends ways of improving its uptake for decision making. 1 UNCLOS Article 61(2) "The coastal State, taking into account the best scientific evidence available to it, shall ensure through proper conservation and management measures that the maintenance of the living resources in the exclusive economic zone is not endangered by over-exploitation." UNCLOS Article 119 (1) "In determining the allowable catch and establishing other conservation measures for the living resources in the high seas, States shall: (a) take measures which are designed, on the best scientific evidence available to the States concerned […]." SCIENCE AND RESEARCH SERVING EFFECTIVE OCEAN GOVERNANCE IN THE WIDER CARIBBEAN REGION perspective. Ocean governance issues aggregate topically and geographically from the smallest boxes to the largest overarching PCM box (after Mahon et al. 2014)