16 November 2011: The Government of Grenada, financed by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) and the World Bank, with technical support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), organized an information sharing workshop to discuss the problems and solutions of sharing geospatial data to improve disaster risk management in the Caribbean.

The Eastern Caribbean Open-Source Geospatial Data Sharing and Management Workshop was attended by representatives from eight Caribbean countries and included discussions of how to make better-informed disaster risk management decisions by obtaining better data. Participants concluded that policy makers and the public at large need to access geospatial data in order to make better decisions in terms of economic and environmental planning.

To ensure the most accurate data possible, participants advocated the use of GeoNode, an open-source platform that aids in creating, sharing, and collaborating on data. The Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI) uses GeoNode to provide better information and tools to support decision makers and help the international community work together to understand disaster risks. During the workshop, a community of practice was also created to discuss the next steps, including a “training of trainers” that is tentatively scheduled for December 2011.

The workshop was part of the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) and Regional Disaster Vulnerability Reduction (RDVRP) Program that was hosted by the Government of Grenada and in collaboration with the World Bank’s Latin American and Caribbean Disaster Risk Management (DRM) team. [World Bank Press Release] [GFDRR Press Release]