The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is enhancing the regional Public Education Programme for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) with a series of communications events beginning in Barbados this week.

Focus group sessions to inform a CSME message-design will be conducted by a team of consultants in Bridgetown 3-4 March 2004 and a similar exercise will be undertaken in Grenada, Jamaica and Suriname within the next two weeks. The exercise is being done in collaboration with the United States Agency for International development (USAID) contracted firm C-Tradecom.

The project also entails workshops intended to train 60 spokespersons on the CSME. As CARICOM moves towards the creation of the CSME, public education continues to be a critical aspect of the implementation programme. Therefore a regional media blitz is also planned as part of the project’s second phase.

In addition to these specific initiatives, the CSME education process continues with inputs from the regional and local level. National CSME focal points are undertaking aspects of public education linked to the regional efforts.