Continuing Public Education Veronica Simon (PhD) UWI Open Campus One Environment, One Health: Informing the Caribbean’s Response to Zika Symposium March 4-5 2016 Hilton Hotel, Barbados

Evolving Concept of Continuing Education

Traditional concept

• Post formal education

• Work skill development

• “Second chance” opportunity

New concept

• General public education

• Cradle to grave extra mural

• Globally oriented

• Focus on adaptive skills

• Personal growth

• Community development

The UWI’s regional reach

The UWI Mandate

• "to advance education and create knowledge through excellence in teaching, research, innovation, public service, intellectual leadership and outreach in order to support the inclusive (social, economic, political, cultural, environmental) development of the Caribbean region and beyond“

UWI Open Campus Centres/Units

• Consortium for Social Development and Research (CDSR)

• Caribbean Child Development Centre (CCDC)

• Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute (HLSTUEI),

• Social Welfare Training Centre (SWTC)

• Women and Development Unit (WAND)

UWI Open Campus Country Sites

Anguilla

Antigua & Barbuda

The Bahamas

Barbados

Belize

Bermuda (Virtual)

British Virgin Islands

Cayman Islands

Dominica

Grenada

Jamaica (12 sites)

Montserrat

St. Kitts & Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Trinidad & Tobago (18 sites)

Turks & Caicos

Two Key UWI Open Campus Strategic Options

• Promote and undertake research as a vehicle for Caribbean Development especially within the "non-residential campus countries"

• Build strategic networks regionally and globally to support the university's mission and vision and core values.

Task Force TOR # 6

To develop and implement a comprehensive communications strategy for ensuring that information about the virus and its effects are shared broadly with the Caribbean public via radio, television, newspapers, the web and social media platforms.

Continuing Public Education Process

Objectives of Task Force’s Public education thrust

i. Providing factual information based on the latest research and investigation

ii. Enhancing information management skills

iii. Identifying existing beliefs and practices

iv. Changing behaviours/habits/lifestyles & facilitating positive instinctive patterns

v. Encourage individual responsibility and action

vi. Promote community action

Strategies to Realise Objectives

• Qualitative Research

• Demystifying/debunking

• Gaining trust

• Embracing traditional wisdom (respect of culture)

• Creating/building on strong partnerships

Importance of Qualitative Research

“Research must help us discover the deep seated factors, the root causes, the essential and determining characteristics, so as to change our world, our circumstance and condition”

(Jules, 2012)

Respect for Cultural Practices/Beliefs

“…strive for balance and convergence between science and tradition... In essence science should seek to walk with humility alongside Nature instead of trampling on it with impunity”.

(Jules 2012)

Building on key partnerships Public Sector

+ State Agencies

Private Sector

Regional Organizations

+ Other Tertiary

Institutions

UWI Centre +

Sites

Research + Information Sharing

Information Dissemination, Mobilization + Feedback

Civil Society +

Community Organizations

Customization of Strategies

• Establishing target group needs

• Harnessing range of techniques & modalities

• Tailoring information

Health Professionals

Awareness of latest research-based information

Enhanced information management/delivery skills

Demonstration of new behaviours/habits

Awareness of individual responsibility

Engagement in community action

Identification of existing beliefs &

practices

Individual / Community

`

Public Education Strategies Must Consider:

• Increasing Internet usage

• Availability of relatively cheap mobile phones

• Literacy levels and French Creole language communities

• Distinctive social media tools and their characteristics (audience, tone, lingo)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Internet Users (per 100 persons) - Selected Caribbean Countries (source: World Bank)

Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas, The Belize

Barbados Dominica Grenada

Guyana Haiti Jamaica

St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia Trinidad and Tobago

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Virgin Islands (U.S.)

0

50

100

150

200

250

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

MOBILE CELLULAR SUBSCRIPTIONS (PER 100 PEOPLE) - SELECTED CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES

(SOURCE: WORLD BANK) Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas, TheBelize BarbadosDominica GrenadaGuyana HaitiJamaica St. Kitts and NevisSt. Lucia Trinidad and Tobago

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Antigua andBarbuda

Guyana Haiti Jamaica Trinidad andTobago

Literacy Rate (selected Caribbean Countries) Source: World Bank

Data not available for Dominica, The Bahamas, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, USVI, Belize, St. Lucia,

Education process always ends with:

Major tasks ahead

• Translating scientific language into readily accessible and easily understood information

• Identifying realities of the contextual framework (historical, cultural and socio-political) through qualitative research

• Developing consistent and insistent research-based policy guidelines/recommendations

• Creating synergies for ongoing inter-partner dialogue

The Task Force must not be perceived as a grand gesture, but an action force

“I come from a place that likes grandeur; it likes large gestures; it is not inhibited by flourish; it is a rhetorical society; it is a society of physical performance; it is a society of style”. (Sir Derek Walcott)