An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

INTRODUCTION

Background

The Caribbean Export Development Agency (hereinafter “ Caribbean Export ”) , is responsible for

increasing the competitiveness of the 15 CARIFORUM countries (comprising Antigua and

Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana,

Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and

Trinidad and Tobago) through the provision of quality export development and trade and

investment promotion services through effective programme execution and strategic alliances.

Caribbean Export ’ s work programme is built on several key objectives, notably: increasing trade,

business intelligence and research capacity within CARIFORUM; fostering access to finance for

export-ready small and medium enterprises; strengthening regional investment promotion

agencies’ capacity; facil itating export development and promotion; reinforcing advocacy for an

enabling environment and ensuring sustainable corporate capacity building.

The overall objective of the Consultancy between the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International

Trade Law Policy and Services ( hereinafter “ SRC ” ) (as Consultant) and Caribbean Export

(hereinafter the “Consultancy” ) is to conduct a needs assessment of the educational demands of

firms operating in the across CARIFORUM. The Consultancy also seeks to identify niche areas in

which Caribbean Export can provide training and highlight three (3) or more short courses in the

priority areas to simultaneously assist CARIFORUM service providers in the expansion of their

capacity while positioning Caribbean Export as a knowledge hub to develop and offer

transformative and strategic training for the corporate sector.

The agreement for the Consultancy was entered into between the SRC and Caribbean Export on

20 May, 2022, with a duration of 15 June, 2022 to 30 September, 2022. Due to data collection

constraints in several target countries, a request was made by the SRC to extend the termination

date for the Consultancy by one month to 30 October, 2022. That request was approved by

Caribbean Export.

Key Deliverables & Outline

Against this background, the specific objectives of the Consultancy are as follows:

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