Montserrat is in line to benefit from UWI/UNESCO Cultural Programme

Montserrat is in line to benefit from an agreement signed between the University The University of the West Indies Open Campus and UNESCO.

The two institutions will collaborate on the Transcultura Programme: Integrating Cuba, Caribbean and The European Union through Culture and Creativity, which aims to harness diversity and build bridges between people and cultures from different linguistic areas.

 The programme is being implemented by UNESCO and funded by the European Union, in two phases.  

 The first phase will focus on improving the skills and capacities of young cultural professionals while the second phase will focus on expanding opportunities through knowledge transfer and exchanges.

 These activities will be accomplished through the establishment of a regional Cultural Training Hub in Cuba that will be linked to relevant Caribbean institutions.

 The programme will foster entrepreneurship, socioeconomic projects, and collaboration in the cultural and creative sectors, heritage, and tourism throughout the Caribbean Region and within the EU.

 Prospects from 17 CARICOM countries - Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Montserrat, Dominican Republic and Cuba - will be targeted for this programme.

 Dr Francis O. Severin, Principal (Interim) of the Open Campus, is gratified by this development. According to him, “The Open Campus continues to demonstrate its Pan-Caribbean commitment and thrust, as well as its sensibility of inclusivity which this initiative so elegantly operationalizes.”  “This is what I call authentic cultural activism,” he averred.

 The programme will comprised of selected courses from the Open Campus Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) offerings such as modules in Small Business Management; Effective Management and Leadership; Project Management; Finance for Non-Finance Managers; Introduction to Small Business/Entrepreneurship; Effective Business Communication;

 Financial Monitoring and Evaluation; Sales and Marketing Management; Brand Management; and Grant Proposal Writing which will be offered in both phases of the programme, with the first phase commencing September 2021 and the second phase in January 2022.

This programme is supported via scholarships and will be implemented over one year. It will be offered through the Open Campus blended learning modality using synchronous and asynchronous delivery.