By Dr. Ludmilla Wikkeling-Scott, President, Morgan State University, School of Community Health and Policy

PARAMARIBO- The shortage of health care workers, particularly nurses, is a phenomenon, felt from Canada to Argentina. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report of 2011, “transforming the health care system to provide safe, quality, patient-centered, accessible, and affordable care will require a comprehensive rethinking of the roles of many health care professionals, nurses chief among them. To realize this vision, nursing education must be fundamentally improved both before and after nurses receive their licenses.”

The nursing shortage  is felt in other areas of the world as well, wherefore it should come to no surprise that the Academic Hospital, Paramaribo (AZP) launched its new curriculum on Friday, May 4, 2012 with the support of the Ministry of Health and its partner, St. Vincentius Hospital, a private catholic hospital in the same city.

During this very important event, AZP Medical Director, Lindy Liauw Ki Fa was very optimistic as she explained, AZP is well on its way to decreasing the lingering Nursing shortage, which is detrimental to the future of Suriname’s health care and Nursing Education. The AZP has felt the burden of a 120 nursing staff shortage for quite some time and can no longer afford to move slow. “A critical step in overcoming this shortage has been the overhaul of the nursing curriculum,” explained Patricia Baumgart, developer of the curriculum on Friday.

The new curriculum improves nursing education by incorporating existing nursing education material and creates a hands-on program, where instruction and practice are well-balanced. More importantly, this curriculum allows Suriname’s standards of nursing education to compete with “Global Standards for the Initial Education of Nurses and Midwives” as set forth by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001.  These standards were set in place to establish educational criteria and assure outcomes that are based on evidence and competency; promote the progressive nature of education and lifelong learning; and ensure the employment of practitioners who are competent and who, by providing quality care, promote positive health outcomes in the populations they serve.

The global standards are in place such that “each country will have an adequate and sustainable source of health professionals, trained within the context of current and future issues in patient safety and quality of care, and trends in shortages of nurses and midwives and workforce migration.”

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The Fifteenth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) took place in Paramaribo, Suriname, on 3-4 May 2012, under the chairmanship of His Excellency Winston G. Lackin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Suriname. The Council Meeting was attended by Senator the Hon. Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados; Hon. Wilfred Peter Ellington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Attorney-General of Belize; Hon. I J Karl Hood, Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Environment, Foreign Trade and Export Development of Grenada; Hon. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana; Hon Arnaldo Brown, Minister of State of Jamaica; Hon. Alva Romanus Baptiste, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation of Saint Lucia; and Dr. the Hon. Surujrattan Rambachan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago.     

Ambassador Anthony Liverpool, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs representedAntigua and Barbuda, and Mr. Elvis Newton, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representedSt Kitts and Nevis.

The Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community met against a backdrop of global, hemispheric and regional trends. The COFCOR focussed on the continued impact of the global economic and financial crisis on the economies of the Community and the attendant outreach efforts to sensitize the members of the G-20 to its concerns and needs; adverse developments for small island developing and low-lying coastal states in the continuing international negotiations on climate change and on sustainable development; engagement with traditional and non-traditional partners in the context of the Community’s strategic priorities; concerns over emerging trends in the provision of technical assistance and cooperation by the Community’s international development partners (IDPs); security cooperation with external partners; implications of the establishment of the CELAC for the foreign policy positioning and coordination of the Community; and worrisome developments in some Associated Members of the Community.

Opening Ceremony

The need to enhance foreign policy coordination in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in a constantly changing international climate was the common thread in the addresses at the Opening Ceremony by His Excellency Winston Lackin, Foreign Affairs Minister of Suriname and Chairman of the COFCOR, and Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary-General of CARICOM.  Minister Lackin called for more effective coordination of foreign policy to respond to the changing international environment and for determining the Region’s international agenda”.

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(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)     The Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) foreign policy coordination in a constantly changing international climate was the common thread running through the addresses at the Fifteenth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) in Paramaribo, Suriname, Thursday 3 May 2012. The two-day meeting was preceded by a formal opening ceremony that was addressed by the Honourable Winston Lackin, Foreign Affairs Minister of Suriname and Chairman of the COFCOR, and Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary-General of CARICOM.

Minister Lackin, in his brief remarks, called for more effective coordination of foreign policy to counter the changing international environment and for determining the Region’s international agenda. He emphasized the importance of COFCOR’s collaboration with the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in promoting and developing coordinated policies in a holistic manner in order to enhance external economic and trade relations of the Community. “Foreign Policy coordination also requires that we, as ministers, and as Member States, participate more pro-actively, in multilateral organizations and where necessary to bring about a reorientation of our focus,” Minister Lackin said.

Secretary-General LaRocque also made reference to the changing international environment and the concomitant impact on the Community and on its foreign policy. “This Fifteenth Meeting of the COFCOR has been convened against a backdrop of global, hemispheric and regional trends, developments and transformative changes of significant relevance to the conduct of the Community’s foreign policy and to its contribution to the development and welfare of the Community. Suffice it to say that `Change’ is the order of the day. The Community must therefore analyse and understand its underlying features, seek to influence it or adapt accordingly, or be left behind,” the Secretary-General said.

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PARAMARIBO–Meredith Bruce is the winner of the first Cliff Djamin Press Freedom Award. Meredith received her prize on Thursday from US Ambassador John Nay. The Cliff Djamin Award is awarded in recognition of the late former US Embassy employee and former Adjunct Editor in Chief of De West evening newspaper, the same newspaper Meredith works for.  

World Press Freedom Day was marked worldwide on May 3rd.. It was the 20th time the day was observed, and the US Embassy in Paramaribo had invited journalists and journalism students to submit essays on this year’s theme of World Press Freedom Day “New voices: Media Freedom Helping to Transform Societies”. Meredith walked away with a check for SRD 1,000 presented by Ambassador Nay.  “We are delighted to recognize publically a young journalist as the winner of the Award, for her essay discussing freedom of the press as a cornerstone of a democratic society.   We are forwarding the essay to each media outlet here in Suriname, in the hope that they will print or report it tomorrow in honor of World Press Freedom Day – a day that is as crucial to them as to all of us,” ambassador Nay said.

The Ambassador, in no uncertain words, condemned recent attacks on journalism. “When a government official personally attacks individual journalists by name on a government radio station that needs to be a wakeup call to everyone.”

The ambassador said that when policy workers speak, it is not as  when individuals speak.  When officials make denigrating statements it brings shame to the government.  Ambassador Nay was quick to mention that he did not consider threatening journalists to be part of the Bouterse Government’s policy.

He stressed though that it is important to remain vigilant. Nay: “Not only are such comments embarrassing to a government – or should be – but it also could let irresponsible individuals believe that they can follow up with physical threats.  And that will automatically raise fears of a return to the bad old days.  And should something happen, should there be violence, it would be a terrible blow to press freedom as well as to the reputation of the government and the President here, both within Suriname and abroad. Governments and citizens alike must remain vigilant to protect this universal right. And we are not just talking about physical threats, jailings, and overt censorship.”

The Ambassador’s speech is below:

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil is deploying more than 8,500 troops to its borders with Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana. Authorities report that this is part of an operation aimed at cracking down on drug smuggling, gold mining and illegal deforestation.

The troop mobilization sends a clear message ahead of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which is scheduled to take place here in June, that Brazil is taking steps to assert greater control over its porous frontiers in the Amazon. “The Amazon is Brazil’s No. 1 priority from a strategic viewpoint, given its importance to humanity as a source of water, biodiversity and food production,” Gen. Eduardo Dias da Costa Villas Boas, chief of the Amazon Military Command said.

The operation, expected to last several weeks, showed its first results on Thursday when officials announced the detection of 10 clandestine airstrips in the state of Roraima. The airstrips were being used for illegal mining operations on indigenous territory, General Villas Boas said.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) –The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) will be seeking ways to strengthen co-co-ordination of foreign policy among the Community’s Member States.

The Council, comprising of the Community’s Foreign Ministers, holds its Fifteenth Meeting on 3-4 May, 2012 in Paramaribo, Suriname. Foreign Policy Co-ordination is one of the four pillars of CARICOM along with Economic Integration, Human and Social Development and Security Co-operation.

The Council will also be seeking to finalise the Community’s preparations for a number of upcoming interactions with the international community including the CARICOM-Mexico Summit in Barbados on 21 May, the Rio+ 20 Summit in Brazil, next June and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties 18 (COP 18) scheduled for Qatar later this year. The Ministers would also be addressing issues and development engaging the attention of the United Nations and the Organisation of American States. The latter body stages its General Assembly in Cochabamba, Bolivia on 3-5 June 2012.

The Council will also receive high level visitors including the Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Richard Marles MP, Foreign Ministers of Brazil and Finland, Their Excellencies Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, and Erkki Tuomioja, respectively  and His Excellency Willy Claes, Minister in the Royal Council of Belgium.

Domestically, the Council will be receiving updates on developments in Haiti, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Source: Caricom Communications

PARAMARIBO–A statue honoring trade union and political leader Fred Derby has been erected on the corner of the Dr. Sophie Redmondstraat and the street bearing his name: Fred Derbystraat.  The statue was unveiled by Derby’s widow on April 29th.

The statue was made by Erwin de Vries one of Suriname’s leading sculptors, who also made statues of other top figures in Suriname and the famed Slavery Monument in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Siegfried Gilds, chairman of the Fred Derby Foundation recalled that many young people who pass by this spot daily can now look up to a role model who did great things for this country.  The event was attended by Derby’s relatives, fellow union members and members of the SPA party, which he founded.

Derby was Suriname’s leading trade unionist, and was the only one of 16 men arrested in 1982 to survive the December murders. He was to testify in the ongoing trial regarding the murders, but died just months before he was due to appear in court of a heart attack, aged 61, while playing football.

A Creole in Suriname’s ethnic rainbow, Derby plunged into politics in his teens, founding the leftwing Nationalist Republic party in 1961 and leading strikes that brought down the conservative government of Johan Pengel eight years later. Stocky and tireless, he was Suriname’s most powerful union leader; after he founded the Surinamese Labour SPA party in 1987, the party has held seats in Parliament until the coalition it formed with former President Venetiaan’s and the Indian party VHP was defeated by current President Desi Bouterse in 2010.

In this piece, written especially for DevSur, former STINASU Director Muriel Held, reflects on Brownsberg and how her heart bleeds at the destruction caused by gold miners who penetrated this pristine nature park in District Brokopondo.  

STINASU (Stichting Natuurbehoud Suriname = Foundation for Nature Preservation in Suriname) was established on 17 June 1969.

Goals:

1. Realization of the objectives set for the Suriname nature reserves, based on the nature conservation law.
2. Support the Suriname Government in their efforts to protect, preserve, conserve and manage objects and areas, which are eligible for, or require protection based on nature protection legislation, incl. the nature conservation law and the Game Law.

STINASU can realize these goals with finances generated through e.g.:

• Government subsidies
• Putting to economic yet ecologic use the nature reserves of Suriname.

In reality this is translated in: Organizing environmental friendly activities (incl. nature/eco tourism) in the nature protected areas to generate funds for their development and design.

• Fundraising
• Donations

Areas of Focus are: Education and Public Awareness, Research, Nature/eco tourism.

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PARAMARIBO–On the 28 of March, the Global Environment Facility/Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) presented the national strategy for the Small Island Developing States Community-based Adaptation Programme. The strategy is to reduce vulnerability and increase the adaptive capacity of communities in Suriname to manage the risks of climate change.

Through this initiative Suriname, as part of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), will participate in a special programme for community based adaptation on climate change challenges funded by the Australian Overseas Development Aid.

The Community-based Adaptation strategy was approved last year and will be implemented from 2012 to 2016. The current funding for the strategy is 170,000 USD. The GEF/SGP will be responsible for managing the funds and reviewing the community projects eligible for these special grants.

‘The GEF/SGP is honored to partner with SIDS Community-based Adaptation Programme in this initiative to enhance the resilience of communities affected by climate change and the ecosystems on which they rely’, said the United Nations Development Programme UNDP ‘This initiative will utilize SGP’s mechanisms and experience in Suriname’s interior to further support community-level initiatives and programs focusing specially on actions to support women and other vulnerable groups in responding to the impacts of climate change’.

Around 20 organizations attended the presentation held at CCS, including representatives of the District Coronie, NGOs and Indigenous organizations. Various representatives from the government also participated in the event, such as the Ministry of ATM and the Ministry of Health. The Climate Change Policy Officer at the Ministry of ATM, Theresa Elder, presented the different initiatives the government is involved in regarding climate change adaptation.

The GEF/SGP National Coordinator, Tanja Lieuw, presented a summary of the strategy and a climate change adaptation project identified in the community of Johanna Margaretha, in the district of Commewijne.

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The same Chinese company that has paved hundreds of kilometers of road in Suriname will also build the houses Government has promised. Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) has committed a US$50 million loan to a government-led housing project. The houses will be built by China’s Dalian Group.

The loan covers the first 1,000 houses in the project, with the first 500 being built in District Commewijne. China Exim approved the loan on 9 April 2012. In an interview with de Ware Tijd daily, minister of public works Ramon Abrahams said: “it’s just a matter of the finance and the foreign affairs ministers placing their signatures, and that’s a formality.”

Suriname first signed with Exim and Dalian in 2008 to pave 250 kilometers of road in Suriname, which has enhanced the country’s infrastructure and lifted the isolation of many remote areas. Exim financed this project and Dalian executed the job.

Dalian then signed on last year to build for the construction of 5,000 houses. Abrahams confirmed that: “Due to the sum and credit ceiling (set by law), we have decided to build the houses in a phased manner, with 1,000 being built every year.”

As soon as construction of the first 1,000 houses has started, a new project will be submitted to China Exim for 2013 and the following years. Since taking office, President Desi Bouterse has committed to building 18,000 houses during his term as one of his policy priorities, yet only 100 houses have been built after 18 months.