Congrats Collymore - Barbados 50th Independence Anniversary Honouree

The Institute for Sustainable Development congratulates Honorary Research Fellow, Mr. Jeremy Collymore, on his recent honour as part of celebrations to mark the 50th Anniversary of Independence in Barbados.

Mr. Collymore, the former Executive Director of Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) was conferred with the Barbados Service Star in recognition of his outstanding leadership and contribution to Disaster Management at the national, regional and global levels.

Mr. Collymore is a trained  Geographer, Environmental Designer and Planner, who has provided leadership for almost three decades in Disaster Management operations in the Caribbean region; research; policy development; programme design, implementation and evaluation. He began to closely observe issues concerning Disaster Risk Management in the region, while pursuing an MPhil degree in Geography at the Mona Campus, over a two and a half year period. His graduate training in Environmental Design and Planning at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) provided the foundation for him to pursue the challenge of advocating for and positioning Disaster Risk Management as a discipline in the Caribbean. In his various leadership positions, he lobbied for policy and application in the area; convened an intercampus discussion network on disaster management and channelled human resources to embrace the discipline by honing the interests of many students at Secondary, Undergraduate and Graduate levels in Barbados and Jamaica.

Mr. Collymore has served the region in Disaster Management for more than thirty (30) years. The citation for his investiture (Government of Barbados, 2016) noting his “passion for safe and resilient spaces” pointed out that: “He used Barbados and the Caribbean as the context of his theoretical application and challenged the then paradigms about both development and disaster management planning and practice.”

The citation further added that Mr. Collymore “has worked tirelessly, with stakeholders, to transform adhoc procedures and programs in DRM in the region to structured-plans and programmes; to create the first sub-regional intergovernmental organization specializing in DRM and later a strategic framework for linking DRM to sustainable development. The Regional Response Mechanism (RRM) and the Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategic Framework (CDM) have served as models in many regions of the world.”

Mr Collymore was appointed in 1991 as the Coordinator of CARICOM’s regional agency for the coordination  of  disaster  emergency  response, the  Caribbean  Disaster Emergency  Response Agency (CDERA).He lead the transition from CDERA to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) in 2009.

His contribution to the advancement of Disaster Risk Management as a discipline in the Caribbean has been exceptional and critical to the development of national and regional disaster management policies, their implementation and evaluation.

His publication in the areas of Disaster Management and Climate Adaptation is extensive.  He has represented the Caribbean on various regional and International Task Forces, advisory and Working Groups and Evaluation Committees, including at the United Nations level.

The Barbados national awards and honours are special recognition to its citizens who have distinguish themselves in fields at the national, regional and international levels.