The Universities Consortium of Small Island States (USCIS) and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Office of the Caribbean, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate sustainable development in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the fields of: climate change, natural and environmental disasters, waste management, resources management, culture, and sustainable living and development. The MOU was signed by UWI Vice Chancellor, Professor E. Nigel Harris and Mr. Paolo Fontani, Officer in Charge of UNESCO, Caribbean, on behalf of UNESCO Director General, Mr. Koichiro Matsurra.
The consortium is a collaborative effort of the University of Malta, University of Mauritius, University of the South Pacific, the University of the West Indies and the University of the Virgin Islands, to enhance the capacity of higher education institutions in small island states, to provide practical, high quality training, and research and outreach, to assist these Member States with the institutional and systematic capacity needed to implement the 1994 Barbados Programme of action for Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (BPOA) and the 2005 Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The Main objectives of the Cooperation Programme will be to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation of activities for the implementation of the BPOA and Mauritius Strategy, and to cooperate with all participating countries to: develop and implement a graduate programme that will provide a more integrated set of course offerings in vulnerability reduction in Small Island Developing States (SIDS); review and design training programmes for capacity-building to implement the BPOA and the Mauritius Strategy that are relevant to the needs of SIDS, ensuring that the training that will be provided will meet the requirements for sustainable development in the communities; develop visions, value and skills that will motivate and equip participants to become actively involved in advocating for and implementing sustainable development measures; develop methods of research programmes which aim specifically at identifying, assessing and monitoring risks and vulnerabilities through an inter-disciplinary and cross-sectoral approach; enable Consortium members to convene a core committee of professors and administrators from the participating universities to further develop the substantive and procedural agenda.