Leadership and Technology to be the Focus of New Regional Partnership

PORT-OF-SPAIN, 27th March 2012 – The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Congress WBN (C-WBN) to provide values-based leadership and promote indigenous ICT development in education in the Caribbean.

Dr Didacus Jules, Registrar of CXC, signed on behalf of the Council while Dr Noel Woodroffe, Founder and President of Congress WBN, signed for his organisation at a brief ceremony at the Marriott Hotel in Port of Spain. Mr Bevil Wooding, Chief Knowledge Officer of C-WBN and Mr Anderson Marshall, Director of Corporate Services at CXC also participated at the ceremony.

Dr Jules said the partnership will create new opportunities to develop a strong indigenous capacity for ICT development infused with ethical principles throughout the Caribbean.

“CXC’s vision is to raise the quality of education in the Caribbean by strengthening leadership capacity and equipping educators to contribute more meaningfully to regional development,” Dr Jules explained.

Dr Woodroffe said the issue of leadership in the Caribbean had been a challenge which needed to be addressed to improve on institutional leadership.

He said his organisation had been responding to the contemporary needs for leadership and human capital development in the educational sector by bringing proven values-based principles and development models from successful intervention in organisations and institutions around the world.

“The partnership seeks to closely collaborate to engage and equip education stakeholders across the Caribbean to enhance and create the enabling climates to improve on leadership on the individual and corporate levels,” Dr Woodroffe stated.

Both organizations expressed the view that the MOU reflects their belief that cooperative efforts and exchanges in education between the two organizations will redound positively to the development of the region.

Information and communications technology will be a priority area under the MOU.

According to Dr Jules, “to provide our children with a good education, we need teachers and programme developers and leaders working together to deliver a holistic and future-oriented curriculum. We are excited about the prospects this MOU affords us to leverage the innovative work C-WBN has been doing using ICT to create indigenous content, mobile apps and special training programmes.”

C-WBN’s Chief Knowledge Officer, Mr Bevil Wooding, who also signed the MOU, added “`under this agreement we will be collaborating closely with CXC to incorporate Information and Communication Technology into every dimension of the education delivery process.”

Dr Jules reiterated CXC’s commitment to forging new strategic partnerships regionally and internationally to better position the organization to respond to the rapidly changing educational landscape.

“Together we are aiming to provide leaders with the tools and knowledge needed to embark on initiatives that encourage greater innovation and more collaborative approaches to learning and knowledge development. CXC’s collaboration with C-WBN is part of our continuing effort to provide the best possible secondary education for our region’s children.”