Jamaica to Host Closing Ceremony of CCELD This Year

Jamaica will host the closing ceremony of the Caribbean-Canada Emerging Leaders Dialogue (CCELD), between September 30 and October 4, this year, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne.

The Dialogue, which commences on September 20, will see 60 participants from Canada and various Caribbean territories undertaking study tours of six cities in Canada and the Region, and meeting with leaders in private, public and civil society.

The CCELD is currently accepting participants to the programme, who are future focused, with strong personal values, and looking for a challenging global experience. They must demonstrate leadership experience, self confidence, skills related to the facilitation and management of teams, and ability to motivate people, among other qualities. The organization can be reached at: http://www.cceld.org/apply.html.

“The closing is a powerful time of reflection, discussion and distillation. The group will come back to Jamaica, and they have an opportunity to reflect on the experience, and be able to develop ideas where they discuss them with Her Royal Highness,” said Programme Manager with CCELD, Karen Henderson, while speaking at a sensitization breakfast, on April 14, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, in New Kingston.

Also speaking at the forum was head of Scotia Bank, Jacqueline Sharp, one of the sponsors, who told the gathering that it is crucial that great collaboration be fostered between organizations and nations, which CCELD represents.

“Leadership effectiveness is a critical driver of success, so investment in people, investment in learning and development, and building networks of strategic relationships are important for our future. It seeks to improve our capacity as a group of nations, to lead, so as to get better outcomes for tomorrow,” she said.

For Dr. Nadiya Figueroa, who was a participant in the programme in 2011, it was an “opportunity about finding innovative and sustainable solutions, and working with what you have, and figuring out the particular dynamics around transformation; that is what the trip to Sudbury and Belize did for me.”

The CCELD pairs emerging leaders from different countries and regions, across all economic sectors of labour, business, Government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and civil society for a two-week in-field experience, to build their own leadership skills.