Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 02, 2006: UNESCO Programme Officer of Communication and Information for the English and Dutch Speaking Caribbean Mr. Alton Grizzle was in the Federation assessing libraries.
He said this is being done to determine access to information and contribute to the development of information and knowledge societies. He added that because this was his first visit he took the opportunity to meet with media stakeholders to discuss projects and programmes on which UNESCO could possibly collaborate.
He noted that over the years his organization has worked with the regional media such as the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) and the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) to consolidate the media in the region. He added that this continues to be done through the International Programme for Development of Communication (IPDC). Mr. Grizzle said that UNESCO is in discussion with the three media organizations to determine its role in mobilizing Government Information Services (GISs) in the region along with national media entities.
The UNESCO Programme Officer also addressed increasing efficiency by means of new technologies. He said the convergence of new technologies with broadcast has brought with it new efficiency in production, news and different forms of programming. Mr. Grizzle added that there is a move to ensure that production houses retool. He said UNESCO is helping the media houses to this end toward greater efficiency to enable them to give better quality information to citizens nationally and regionally.
