A three-week training program will be held here from next week spearheaded jointly by the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF) and the Centre for Enterprise Development Inc. (CED).
The two entities will roll out a Cluster Development Training Program for Business Support Organisations (BSOs) that is expected to lead to the certification of Vincentians as cluster facilitators later this year.
The program is part of a CCPF project being delivered in seven Caribbean countries to build the capacity to promote and develop clusters as a tool for economic development. Under this program, one-week workshops will be delivered March 4-8, April 8-12 and May 20-24, by The Cluster Competitiveness Group – a consulting firm specialized in capacity building on cluster-based methodologies for enhanced competitiveness and innovation. At the end of the training program, the cluster facilitators will be better equipped to:
1. Understand how to identify promising cluster initiatives in their own country using a market-driven approach, considering the local context.
2. Identify and coordinate cluster stakeholders to facilitate the completion of Cluster Development Plans (CDPs) eligible for funding by Compete Caribbean or others.
3. Mobilize key stakeholders to secure leadership from the private sector and strategic support from government and non-government organisations.
The three weeks of training in St. Vincent are scheduled to take place at Hotel Alexandrina, Prospect. The other countries where the CCPF project is being implemented are Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana and St. Lucia.
In 2017, CED successfully applied for a grant under this programme to facilitate capacity building within the organization for business cluster development. As a prelude to the implementation at the national level, CED participated in a “Kick-off meeting” in Barbados last year, where participants were introduced to techniques used in developing business clusters and preparations were made for the ‘next steps’ in implementation at the national level. A national workshop held last February marked the start of the CCPF’s Cluster Capacity Building in Small and Vulnerable Countries Project with CED.
An Opening Ceremony for the workshop will be held on Monday, March 4 at 8:30 a.m. at Hotel Alexandrina.
