Several local organizations, including the Ministry of Health, Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA), and the Salvation Army, have started a four-day training session in the Multipurpose Cultural Centre to learn about the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) methodology.

The event started on Monday and ends on Thursday

The training, facilitated by trainers from various disaster and development agencies, aims to provide participants with knowledge and skills to prepare, respond, mitigate, and recover from natural disasters.

The PDNA methodology is a standardized way of assessing the damage and loss caused by natural disasters, which can help countries leverage international financing for their recovery costs.

According to Elizabeth Charles-Soomer, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative, this workshop will benefit the general public by significantly aiding disaster recovery efforts.

Dr. Deborah Brown, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management (CDEMA) representative, emphasized the importance of the workshop to CDEMA’s strategic objective for 2022-2027, which is to accelerate recovery capacity building in the region.

The event also featured short speeches from the Director of NODS, Sherrod James, Senator Rawdon Turner on behalf of the Ministry of Social Transformation, and a representative from the European Union.

The PDNA methodology training session is a collaborative effort between several organizations, including the UNDP, CDEMA, National Office of Disaster Services (NODS), Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean (EnGenDER), and Global Affairs Canada.