Created in 2005, the Regional Intervention Platform for the Americas and the Caribbean (PIRAC) is the representative delegation of the French Red Cross (FRC) for the Caribbean region, based in Guadeloupe, as well as its operational mechanism for humanitarian action and regional cooperation. PIRAC comes to the aid of the people of the Caribbean in the event of major disasters and works to develop actions to strengthen the resilience of populations in French territories as well as in the countries of the Caribbean arc and the Guyana Plateau.

PIRAC launched the READY 360° programme in January 2023, co-funded by the INTERREG Caribbean programme. The READY 360° programme aims to build global and greener resilience in Caribbean territories by strengthening disaster preparedness and response capacities at all levels: from individuals and families, to organisations and businesses, right up to the level of regional institutional coordination of risk management. It is divided into two phases: phase 1 to be implemented in 2023 and phase 2 from 2024.

It aims to achieve 4 main objectives: (i) Strengthen regional coordination and legislative frameworks for disaster management; (ii) Prepare for, anticipate and respond to disasters and crises with greener preparedness measures. (iii) Improving public information, awareness and preparedness for disasters and crises; (iv) Developing technical studies and research on disaster management with experts and academics.

Emergency professionals (those involved in disaster risk management and the national Red Cross), entrepreneurs, the general public and young people are the main targets of the project, through actions to structure regional technical cooperation, emergency pre-positioning, training and the development of innovative educational tools. The fundamental principle of this new approach is to reduce the environmental impact of risk management practices.

The programme’s institutional partners are the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). 8 Caribbean territories are involved in the programme: Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines.

One of the main outcomes of the READY 360° programme is to raise awareness of the effects of climate change and the risks of disasters in the Caribbean (at individual, family, community, institutional and general public level) through a regional awareness campaign focusing on nature-based solutions and the inclusion of vulnerable groups. Nature-based solutions exist locally, and a number of community and association-based climate change adaptation initiatives are already being put into practice by Caribbean citizens.

General objective :

The general aim of the service will be to carry out a diagnosis of existing nature-based solutions (NBS) in the Caribbean region with a view to drawing up awareness-raising messages relating to this theme as part of the regional campaign.

Specific objectives of the service :

• Draw up an inventory of existing nature-based solutions initiatives in the Caribbean region
• Propose operational recommendations for implementing nature-based solutions
• Define the information that can be passed on to the campaign’s target audience