CARIBBEAN MARINE ASSOCIATION

The Caribbean Marine Association (CMA) recently completed a technical assistance project “Capacity Building of the Caribbean Marine Association for Policy Dialogue and Promotion of the Sector Towards the Goals of Many Islands, One Sea”. The project was implemented from January to September 2011. This project was supported by Centre for Development of Enterprise (CDE) which contributed €29,738.00 to the overall project budget of €44,927.00; the remainder was contributed by the CMA in cash and kind.

The specific objective of this project was to build the capacity of the CMA to support the industry in policy dialogue and Caribbean yacht destination promotion, by developing the tools which would allow CMA to carry out its mandate on a sustainable basis.

During the life of the project, there were some constraints to the completion of all components due to time and budgetary limits, however despite the challenges to the implementation of all outputs of the project, CMA was successful in completing the following:

*  Hosting of the CMA Annual General Meeting and appointment of the new Board of Directors (2011-2013). At this meeting, the core priorities for the CMA were identified and the Board elected. This new Board will steer the way forward for the CMA;

*  Development of the CMA website into an informative and interactive website for CMA members and interested parties. The website development included training for the CMA member associations which will allow for regular country specific updates as required. The reconfigured CMA website is a portal for information on the yachting sector, events and services available in the region which is a successful evolution from the former static website;

* Increased visibility of the CMA through the publication of press releases to key Yachting and Tourism publications and organisations;

* Development of the CMA work-plan which will be used as a tool for implementation, development of policy positions and lobbying and advocacy to Governments and key stakeholders and strategic partners.

John Duffy, President of the CMA in concluding this project stated:

“There is no doubt that the revitalisation of the CMA is essential to the increasing recognition of yachting to the Caribbean's tourism industry. Whilst yachting contributes a significant sum to tourism revenues, the Caribbean attracts a surprisingly small percentage of worldwide yachting tourism. Much of this may be to do with the lack of co-ordination between the various countries which make up the Caribbean.

"The CMA needs to be the authoritative voice on yachting matters in the Caribbean and much of this project was directed at establishing this position for the CMA. We are only on the bottom rung of the ladder and there are many years of effort ahead if the goals of the project are to be achieved.”

In moving forward, the CMA will be seeking further donor funds as well as allocating membership fees to implement much of its proposed work-plan, and in particular operate the CMA Secretariat. The development of the funding proposal along with an aggressive membership drive will be the forefront of the CMA’s immediate activities for sustainable capacity building and way forward.

For more information on the Caribbean Marine Association, visit the website at: http://www.caribbeanmarineassociation.com or contact CMA President John Duffy at: info@caribbeanmarineassociation.com.

Article written by John Duffy, President of the Caribbean Marina Association, as originally published in All at Sea, December 2011 Issue:  http://www.allatsea.net/article/December_2011/The_Caribbean_Marine_Association_CMA_Continues
_Strategic_Growth_in_the_Region.