By: Staff Writer
June 25, 2021
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) president said that “digitalisation has defined winners and losers” of the COVID-19 pandemic as he builds up the importance of bridging the gap between Latin America and the Caribbean with Miami, Florida.
Mauricio Claver-Carone, speaking at a press conference earlier this week, said: “Digitalization has defined it really the winners and the losers of this pandemic and therefore, it brings about the importance for connectivity; for quality of that connectivity; and then obviously price competitiveness, so that therefore there’s broad access.”
Digitalisation has been key in business continuity for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic as many offices had to close up due to the economic restrictions as persons either had to quarantine from exposure to the virus or busiensses closed up due to lack of customers walking through the doors, opting for delivery services or digital delivery of information and knowledge products.
Mr Claver-Carone, speaking ahead of the inaugural Miami LAC trade and investment conference being held between June 22 to 24, said: “The opportunities from telework to telemedicine to education that digitalisation brings are huge, let alone from the creation of jobs entrepreneurship through the start-up scenes that we’re seeing, and really through the amazing human capital that we’re seeing in Latin America, in the Caribbean.”
Telemedicine has been introduced in St Lucia and Trinidad in mid-2020. The Bahamas had implemented a version of telemedicine back in 2011, but the efficacy of the programme has been in question.
The Hospital for Sick Children (Sickkids) in Toronto launched an initiative in 2013 targeting children with cancer working in partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI), Ministries of Health and key hospitals and institutions from six participating Caribbean countries: The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
Also, the VA Caribbean Healthcare System based in Puerto Rico has been providing Home Telehealth services for veterans in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Other islands such as Turks & Caicos, Haiti, Dominican Republic and St. Vincent have installed private systems. More recently, Ministries of Health in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and the Bahamas are researching telemedicine systems that would be applicable for their public health systems.
The education sector on the other hand has responded a bit better with several virtual education providers popping up throughout the region in an attempt to provide e-learning services
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that in the Caribbean region, available data shows that nearly 7 million learners in 23 countries and of 91,710 teachers have been affected by school closures due to COVID-19.
To address these unprecedented disruptions to Caribbean education systems, the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean and Blackboard, through UNESCO’Global Education Coalition, are providing high quality distance and blended learning training to 10,000 teachers in 20 Caribbean SIDS.
The project ‘Education response to COVID-19: Strategies for Distance Education and Training in the Caribbean SIDS’ aims to build on lessons learned from the pilot initiative with Blackboard in 2020 to enhance capacity development of teacher educators, teachers and educational leaders in digital skills and blended learning solutions, as well as increase access to professional development opportunities for teacher educators, teachers, inspectors and educational community leaders through a coordinated regional approach to design, deliver and maintain quality online learning resources.
Businesses had no other option but to adapt as a means of necessity, to which Mr Claver-Carone noted, “The flight to Florida, of tech companies, of investment banks, of institutional investors is very real. It has taken place and it has been taking place throughout this pandemic, and in conversations with Mayor Francis Suarez here in Miami, he’s done a tremendous job, really, in attracting that investment by Silicon Valley firms in their move here to Miami in regards to investment banks, and institutional investors from New York and other areas, and really moving here to Miami.
“So my goal as this flight to Florida, takes place is, once you’re in Miami you’re literally one step away from Latin America, in the Caribbean.”
Mr Claver-Carone wants to build on this connection between the Caribbean and Latin America and Miami, Florida and take this synergy “one step further,” by creating a “digital ecosystem” where both American, Latin American and Caribbean companies can co-exist and work together.