Caribbean Competitors Collaborate To Achieve Long Term Sustainability

A group of over 40 corporate foundations, private sector organizations and other supporting organizations, have emerged with a common vision: “to create linkages that will foster development in the Caribbean by building on the tremendous assets of the region; addressing the developmental challenges facing the people to enable them to achieve their potential; and to provide a base for a sustainable future.”

There is an emerging consensus that more coordinated initiatives and resources are required to address complex global challenges facing the Caribbean, especially within the next ten (10) years as the world accelerates efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Corporate Leaders and their Foundations across the Caribbean have formed the Caribbean Philanthropic Alliance (CariPhilAlliance) to tackle the region’s challenges through collaboration.

At the launch which took place at the Jamaica Consulate in New York, Chairman of the Lasco Foundation and Group of Companies, the Honourable Lascelles Chin said “We approach this initiative as Private Sector Leaders not as competitors. We are collaborators for the greater good of sustainable social and economic development in the Caribbean Region.”

These sentiments were further echoed with the sentiments expressed by Dr. Fred Kennedy, Chairman of the Grace Kennedy Foundation: “While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders. Sustainable growth will not be achieved without strategic collaboration and lasting partnerships at the national, regional and international level.” Lasco and GraceKennedy are well-known competitive brands in the Caribbean region and other diaspora markets across the world.

Professor Rosalea Hamilton, one of the co-organizers of the CariPhilAlliance, stated why this initiative is significant, “As the Caribbean grapples with another hurricane disaster, the need for greater resources and collaboration cannot be overstated. Bringing the private and philanthropic sectors in the Caribbean together to more strategically address persistent development challenges is now an imperative. Accelerating our actions to achieve SDGs is an important catalyst.”

For more information visit: www.cariphilalliance.org