Caribbean prepared

Disaster Management in Tourism

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) in partnership with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) promotes Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) in the Tourism Sector. 

The second project under the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) Regional Public Good Initiative entitled “Regional Monitoring and Evaluation System for the Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean Tourism Sector” is a follow up to the earlier “Regional Disaster Risk Management (DRM) for Sustainable Tourism in the Caribbean” under which a Regional DRM Strategy and Plan of Action was developed to provide a framework by which the Tourism sector in the Caribbean could implement DRM. 

This second project aims to facilitate the adaptation of the strategy.  This will be done by numerous activities such as critical stakeholder consultations and the development of standards and protocols for information monitoring, evaluation and reporting.    It will also entail the elaboration of a database template, the identification of data availability and gaps and designing ways to fill those gaps by additional data collection.  The project is also designed to ensure that the M&E System is well incorporated into or compatible with existing systems such as the CTO’s Management Information System for Tourism (MIST).   The final step is a plan for sustainability from a financial, capacity building and public awareness perspective. 

The question that is always asked what is a monitoring and evaluation system?  
Essentially, an M&E system is a tool for measuring performance.  There are three specific areas that are measured, these are efficiency, effectiveness and overall impact.   M&E systems are usually designed for Programmes, Projects or Policies, but can be applied to any instrument which comprise of indicators.  The evaluation aspect considers what the project, policy or programme intends to achieve, the difference it is designed to make and the impact that should happen.  It assesses the progress and determines whether that strategy was or was not effective and the reasons for this. 

In terms of this project, the M&E system will be designed to measure the performance in the Caribbean tourism sector as it pertains to the actions undertaken in building resilience to natural hazards and the adaptation to climate change.  The various sub sectors in tourism will be incorporated, therefore, to use the example of the accommodation sub sector, if a new hotel is to be built, then the M&E system will measure the extent to which construction standards to resist hurricane force winds or earthquakes of a high magnitude were used, and how effective they are.  At the same time, the hotel will be designed in a way that should reduce the quantity of water used and/or recycled.  The M&E system will track the success of these measures and determine whether the intended impact is achieved.  These are simple examples and may not reflect the wider scope of the M&E system or the project.  It is only intended to give the reader insights into the general aim of the project.

More information on this project will be provided in upcoming articles.