Persons from St Vincent and the Grenadines were among more than 30 police, military and civil service personnel from the Eastern Caribbean who were engaged in a virtual strategic leadership course on March 10 and 11, funded by the UK Ministry of Defence.

The two-day multi-agency programme, was conducted in partnership with the Barbados-headquartered Regional Security System (RSS).

Organisers said in a release that the course provided an opportunity for participants from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, CDEMA and the RSS headquarters, to enhance their strategic leadership performance and understand the challenges of leadership at the strategic level.  

Leadership models and ethics; the strategic context; critical decision making; strategy development and the challenge of change and communication and influence within Defence and the wider Security Sector- were among the topics examined throughout the course.

UK Defence Attaché to the Caribbean Lt. Col. Simon Westlake said, “In delivering this virtual programme, the UK continues to work with our Caribbean partners to collectively share experiences, to develop ways of thinking and of working together to better tackle contemporary security challenges that threaten lives and livelihoods.”

Captain (N) Errington Shurland, Executive Director of the RSS, said, “In the RSS sub-region, we are working to enhance the leadership capabilities of senior personnel in our security Forces and related partner organisations. Given the challenging COVID-19 environment, the RSS is very appreciative to the UK government and by extension, the UK Defence Academy for offering this very important and timely training opportunity.”

Westlake further noted that the programme was also successfully delivered last month across the six UK Overseas Territories in the region.

During March 16-17, the same Eastern Caribbean partner countries were also participants in a “Building Integrity in Senior Leaders” programme, again delivered by the UK’s Defence Academy, which is also focused on sharing experiences and lessons in managing complex situations in the modern environment.

The virtual programmes reflect the UK’s continuing desire to collaborate with Caribbean partners, despite the challenges presented by COVID, and were delivered just ahead of the UK-Caribbean Forum, which convened on March 18 at Ministerial level.