The Caribbean Institute for Human Resource Management (CaIHRM) has advised that several human resource management associations across the Caribbean region have come together to form a working partnership, while the individual country organisations retain their separate identities and operations.

This new entity, referred to as the Caribbean Institute for Human Resource Management, brings together around a collaborative table, the HR professional organisations/professional working groups in the region.

The institute seeks to advance, on a non-profit basis, the interests of the Caribbean human resource management profession; improve the quality, regulatory oversight (including self-regulation), and effectiveness of professional human resource management; promote and develop knowledge of human resource issues through research, exchanges and other means, and the importance of such issues to public- and private-sector organsations; as well as public policy. The institute also aims to agree on HR operating standards and, through CARICOM, provide support for formal recognition in law of the HR profession.

The institute is registered in Jamaica for legal purposes, and the secretariat is also located on the island.

The institute will be governed by a board of directors comprising senior HR leaders across the region, and run by an officer corp consisting of president, vice-president and secretary/treasurer. Membership currently includes full membership, as well as appointed observers, across the following countries: Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Maarten, and Trinidad and Tobago. It also includes an asssociate member – The Carib HR Forum, operated by well-known management strategist Francis Wade.

“I am happy for this new move towards partnership and HR organisation capacity-building in the islands,” said Dr Thashana Thomas, lead of the Turks and Caicos Institute’s HR working group.

In reflecting on the move to this working partnership, Valentine Ball, president of the Cayman Islands Society for HR Professionals, who has observer status with CaIHRM, noted her appreciation “for the value this brings to the Caribbean and our members locally”.

COLLABORATIVE WORK

Board member Wendie Wilson, from St Vincent and the Grenadines, noted that “Carib HR Forum has for many years fostered conversations among HR professionals across the region, and the HR community recognises its strong efforts”.

The institute aims to work collaboratively to influence the setting of standards for HR practice, as well as qualifications for recognised HR professionals in the Caribbean.

“We see this move as a great opportunity for building bridges in the Caribbean and advancing the contribution of the HR professionals and organisations towards a human capital development policy in CARICOM,” said the inaugural President Cavelle Joseph-St Omer.

The institute is expected to establish relationships and networking with other similar bodies internationally to facilitate HR research and international benchmarking.

Krystle DaPonte, vice-president for CaIHRM and president for the Bermuda Human Resource Association (BHRA), said: “The BHRA is excited to join this partnership, which brings the opportunity for HR associations to become connected and leverage the expertise and life experiences of HR experts whom we may not have ever connected with naturally outside of this group. As the world continues to globalise, so should our interest groups.”

Goretti Paul, a senior HR leader in St Lucia, noted her pleasure in being able to contribute to the development of the HR profession in the Caribbean, while Rachelle Geerlings, president of the St Maarten Human Capital Association, welcomed the idea of the region coming together to share and build the research focus in Caribbean HR practice.

For his part, the chairman of the institute, Michael McAnuff-Jones, noted: “We are excited to see this season of collaboration arrive, after a long road of conversations and previous attempts, and doubtless, the synergies, best practice sharing and collaboration will enable us to make our way towards securing formal self-regulation and profession recognition status across our countries. “

During a recent meeting, hosted virtually in Jamaica, the following was confirmed by the board of directors:

Board Chairman: Michael McAnuff-Jones, HR/leadership consultant and pastor of Christian Life Fellowship in Jamaica. McAnuff-Jones is the current vice-president of the Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica (HRMAJ), former SVP Human Resources- Scotiabank Jamaica, and regional head of HR for Scotiabank. He previously served as chair of the HRMAJ.

President: Cavelle Joseph-St Omer, divisional manager, human resources, of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago. Joseph-St Omer is the current president of the Human Resource Management Association of Trinidad and Tobago, and is a member of the board of the National Training Agency, the board of Epoch Foundation, and the public relations officer of the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business

Alumni Network. She previously served as the president of the Association of Female Executives of Trinidad and Tobago, a member of Industrial Relations Advisory Committee, and board of directors of NIHERST.

Vice-President: Krystle Daponte, senior HR manager/vice-pesident at Marsh McLennan in Bermuda, having previously served as senior HR at Appleby, a leading offshore law firm. Daponte is the current president of the Bermuda HR Association.

Secretary/Treasurer: Leodis Douglas, principal lecturer, head of department, G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport and former HR director of the institution. Douglas is currently the chairman of the First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union Ltd, as well as the board secretary of the HRMAJ.