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:
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:
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.