On the margins of the Tenth Meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Committee of Ambassadors held in Guyana, on Thursday, 21 November 2019, the CARICOM Secretariat launched the ‘I AM CARICOM’ Communications Campaign.

The multi-media campaign is designed to improve the visibility of CARICOM, promote the CARICOM identity, increase citizens’ engagement with the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and engender ownership of the imminent CARICOM Strategic Plan 2020.

The current strategic plan, which ends in December 2019, is the Community’s first, and is a direct response to the need to target “… a narrow range of specified outcomes within specified time-frames, focusing on a few practical and achievable goals” in relation to the regional development agenda.

The ‘I AM CARICOM’ Campaign (#IamCARICOM) aims to assist the citizens of the Community to understand CARICOM, its purpose, people, geography, institutions, governance structure, policies and plans, and to fully engage citizens of the Community in the process of developing and implementing strategic interventions that affect their lives.

Importantly, the Campaign seeks to effectively and efficiently reach and engage its audiences to create awareness and engender ownership of the Community’s Results-focused Strategic Plan from 2020. The Campaign will also facilitate continuing dialogue between the CARICOM Secretariat and citizens of the Community where perspectives and information on the scope, issues, process, expected results, benefits and implications for citizens can be shared.

Within Member States, the Primary Target Audiences of the Communications Campaign include the mainstream local and private media, thought-Leaders; schools/six formers, the public and private sectors and non-governmental organisations.

The Campaign will utilise the channels of print media, television, radio, social media, popular entertainment artistes, sports personalities and social media influencers to reach the Primary Target Audience across the Community.

The CARICOM Secretariat, with support from the implementing partners, namely the Member States and Regional Institutions, is coordinating the Communications Campaign, and among the expected key outcomes are increased understanding of CARICOM and the Regional Integration Agenda, greater awareness and ownership of the Caribbean Community Strategic Plan 2020 by all citizens of the Community, improved implementation rates and impact of the Community Strategic Plan across the Community.