Organization: World Bank
Moderator: Kristal Peters, Urban Resilience Consultant, World Bank Group
Summary: A home can be a family’s biggest asset and a source of generational wealth as parents often give it to children, so with one disaster most of a family’s wealth can be wiped away. Destruction of homes also have major social impacts and can negatively affect childhood learning and development. Lack of housing resilience is often associated with low affordability, as high cost drives families to build in high risk zones under inadequate standards. Eastern Caribbean countries are working to improve the resilience of their housing stock through assessing current conditions, enhancing housing stock and improving policies. In this session, we will learn more what Eastern Caribbean are doing to improve their housing programs; as well as have a forum for the exchange of ideas.
Time: 11:40-12:55
Panelists:
Rosamund Edwards, Financial Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Commonwealth of Dominica
Rosamund Edwards is the current Financial Secretary of the Commonwealth of Dominica. In this position, she has steered the country through periods of economic upheaval in the wake of two major natural disasters – Tropical Storm Erika in 2015, and Hurricane Maria in 2017. Rosamund is a dedicated and astute public servant; she began her career in public service as a teacher, then becoming a Project Officer in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, then a Macroeconomist, then a Senior Economist prior to her current role. In addition to serving as the Financial Secretary, Rosamund has also served as a Board Director to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank; as Chairperson and Director on the Eastern Caribbean Asset Management Corporation; Technical and Advisory Committee Member on the Citizen By Investment Programme and its Advisory Committee.
Rosamund has a BSc. in Economics from the University of the West Indies in Barbados, and an MSc. from the University of Southampton in England.
Kenyatta Alleyne, General Manager Housing and Land Development Corporation, Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Kenyatta Alleyne began his career in the water sector and has credible work experience as an Operations & Maintenance Engineer with Central Water & Sewerage Authority (CWSA), St. Vincent for over ten (10) years and has also served as the Technical Coordinator at the St. Lucia based Water & Sewerage Company (WASCO).
Kenyatta extended his experience in the public infrastructure field by serving as the Manager of Infrastructure Services for 6 years at the established Roads Buildings & General Services Authority (BRAGSA), an initiative of the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines to remove the maintenance function for All roads, bridges, public buildings, etc. from within the Ministry of Communications and Works.
In 2015, he was selected to head the Housing and Land Development Corporation (HLDC), a corporate body charged with implementing and managing government’s housing policy in conjunction with the Ministry of Housing, Informal Human Settlements, Lands and Surveys and Physical Planning.
Kenyatta has recently been appointed Chairperson of the Resettlement Committee which is charged with coordinating relocating efforts for persons who will be affected by the proposed Kingstown Port Development Project.
Kenyatta is an avid Swim Parent spending extensive hours taking his 14 year old son to and from swim training and national and regional swim meets. He still hopes to learn to swim one day like his son.
Gale Cumberbatch, Senior Risk Analyst, Saint Lucia Development Bank
Gale Cumberbatch is a dynamic and performance driven Banking and Finance professional currently employed as the Senior Credit Risk Analyst at the St. Lucia Development Bank. She is experienced in development banking, investment promotion, retail, personal financial planning and enterprise risk management. Gale graduated from the Midwestern State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration where majored in Finance.
Gale continued her education at the Texas Tech University completing a Master’s of Science Degree in Personal Financial Planning. Through her career she obtained Intensive Project Appraisal Training for Development Banking, Loan Portfolio Administration and Management for Development Banks, and participated in the Energy Efficiency Sensitisation Workshop all hosted by the Caribbean Development Bank. Other training includes CARICRIS Intensive Enterprise Risk Management and IFRS9 training.
Gale has a keen interest in Development Banking and Financial Risk Management, Debt Management and Enterprise Risk Management. Outside of her Banking career she enjoys spending time with her son and campaigning for an increase in financial literacy in communities.
Ming Zhang, Practice Manager, World Bank Group
Ming Zhang is Practice Manager for Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management in the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the World Bank. His responsibilities include the oversight of the delivery and monitoring of the entire lending and analytical programs in these two sectors in the region. Before Latin America, from December 2010 to 2016, he was Sector Manager for Urban and Water in South Asia. Ming has 20 years’ experience with the World Bank, covering urban development, infrastructure, local government and decentralization. He has worked on South Asia, Latin America, where he was Lead Urban Specialist, and East Asia, where he was Infrastructure Sector Coordinator for the Philippines based in Manila. His publications include Growth and Competitiveness of Brazilian Cities, and Meeting Infrastructure Challenges in the Philippines. Ming received his Master’s Degree in Economics and PhD in City and Regional Planning, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He is fluent in Chinese, English, Portuguese and Spanish.