In today’s episode, we have special guest Nicole Leotaud, the Executive Director of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI). This episode is the first of this 5-part series, Better Than Before, Leveraging COVID-19 recovery for a sustainable Caribbean. The Better Than Before series is supported under the “Amplifying local voices for a just and resilient COVID-19 recovery” project, which is being implemented by CANARI in collaboration with Panos Caribbean, with funding from the Open Society Foundations (OSF).
Nicole has over 25 years of experience working in natural resource management across the Caribbean. She dives right into the many facets of CANARI, sharing about the work CANARI does to support the Caribbean's transition to socially inclusive, climate resilient and sustainable development. With a mission to promote and facilitate stakeholder participation and collaboration in the stewardship of renewable natural resources in the Caribbean, there’s a lot to do.
When it comes to COVID-19, Nicole emphasizes that it is just part of multiple intertwined crises. Therefore, the pandemic recovery investments are an opportunity to holistically rethink and reimagine Caribbean development.
Based on these recovery packages announced by Caribbean governments, CANARI developed an analytical framework to assess COVID-19 recovery responses in the Caribbean. Nicole shares details of the framework and its 4 focus areas during our talk, along with some interesting findings.
Nicole notes that it is critical to remember that while research, policies and plans are important, work on the ground is also needed. She gives some insights into the work CANARI does on the ground. She believes that the government, the private sector and civil society all need to come together to make the changes needed.
As this episode wraps up, Nicole shares what’s on her wish list for accelerating the transition to sustainable, inclusive, and resilient developments in the Caribbean.
Key Points
● We learn about the work of CANARI and the role it plays in building back a better Caribbean after COVID-19.
● This episode’s guest is Nicole Leotaud, the Executive Director of CANARI.
● She explains the analytical framework that CANARI developed to assess COVID-19 recovery responses in the Caribbean.
● Nicole also talks about some of CANARI’S on the ground work in the region.
Connect with Nicole:
● YouTube
The Better Than Before series is hosted by Derval Barzey, edited and produced by Breadfruit Media, with artwork by Carey Digital.