The Global Crisis Response Support Programme (GCRSP) was a 26-month EU funded project aimed at strengthening the capacities of Latin American and Caribbean regional organizations in early warning. This capacity building programme aimed at increasing regional and international cooperation, training agency staff in new skills, enabling the creation of a virtual crisis room (VCR) and ensuring a gender perspective in early warning. The programme targeted the Organization of American States (OAS) and four Caribbean regional organizations: the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Regional Security System (RSS), CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS) and two of CARICOM IMPACS’ sub-agencies: the Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre (RIFC) and the Joint Regional Communication Centre (JRCC).

The project was guided by the following six principles:

• Stakeholder feedback and buy-in is critical for project success.
• Change needs to be at both the individual and organizational levels
• All project work needs to address identified needs and be supported by the stakeholders
• The project needs to be flexible enough to adapt when new requirements are identified
• Any change needs to be sustainable in the long-term
• The project must be continuously monitored and measured against specific targets

In order to achieve the goals set out in the GCRSP project definition while following the principles listed above a multifaceted approach was adopted. This included:

• The provision of specialized training courses.
• An end-of-programme simulation exercise (EoPE) called Synergy 2017 in the Caribbean
• Promotion of inter- and intra- organizational communication and cooperation
• A training of trainers course
• Coaching and Peer-to-peer knowledge exchange
• Ensuring gender was considered in all activities

Via these and a number of other initiatives the GCRSP was able to achieve the project goals, according to an independent evaluation as well as in the opinion of the key stakeholders in the region. The end-of-programme exercise Synergy 2017 served to show both how far the GCRSP had come as well as highlighting areas for further improvement.