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GET ON BOARD: SIGN UP FOR THE ONLINE NATIONAL VOLUNTEER REGISTRY

GET ON BOARD: SIGN UP FOR THE ONLINE NATIONAL VOLUNTEER REGISTRY

March 19, 20131234Views

Tuesday,
19 March
– The Virgin Islands
will soon have a
National Volunteer
Registry
which focus is to recruit and train members in all areas of
disaster management. 

The Department of Disaster Management (DDM)
recognises that volunteerism is one of the oldest response mechanisms used in
disaster situations and in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, hence the
spearheading of an online initiative.   It is also recognised that the first response,
both spontaneous and organised, generally comes from local communities.  As such volunteers constitute a very
important resource to the disaster management mechanism in the Virgin
Islands.  

In explaining the purpose of the Registry
Deputy Director, Ms. Evangeline Inniss said, “The overall mission of the Virgin
Islands Volunteer Programme is to recruit and train members in all areas of
disaster management in order to support the DDM in providing Disaster
Management services to our communities”. 

She further said, “The VI Volunteer Programme
is open to all domiciled residents of the Virgin Islands and those visiting our
islands for 6 months or more.”  To be
eligible for active membership, persons should be between
18-50 years old, possess a community spirit and be committed to using his or her
abilities to enhance disaster management in the Territory.

Ultimately, through the population of this
volunteer registry, and other supporting disaster risk reduction initiatives,
DDM seeks to establish SMART communities
which, will have a certain level of self-sufficiency and resilience and are
able to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

This online facility was developed by local
company Farara Business Solutions with the financial support of the Government
of Italy through the Enhancing Resilience to Reduce Vulnerability in the
Caribbean Region (ERC) Project, which is being executed by the Caribbean
Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) in collaboration with the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) and technical support from the Caribbean
Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

This online Registry can be accessed via the
Department’s website at
www.bviddm.com or directly using
the link
http://173.0.134.71/BVIVolunteers/.

Persons interesting in becoming part of the
national Volunteer Registry and who are not able to access the online
registration can contact Ms Evangeline Inniss, Deputy Director at 468-4200.