CARICOM and sport

176

(d) establish policies and programmes to promote the development of youth and women in the Community with a view to encouraging and enhancing their participation in social, cultural, political and economic activities;
(e) promote and establish programmes for the development of culture and sports in the Community;
(f) promote the development of special focus programmes supportive of the establishment and maintenance of a healthy human environment in the Community, and
(g) undertake any additional functions remitted to it by the Conference, arising under this Treaty.

One should immediately recognise the extent to which emphasis is placed on sport. It is quite low in the order of the Objectives. Of course we should be accustomed to this since in most Caribbean countries sport is attached to some other Ministry as an adjunct and is usually last in the title of the designated institution.
Having stated the foregoing, the same CARICOM adds that

Sport has always been an important part of Community life and development, particularly among the Region’s youth. In 2000, a human resource development sub-committee on sport established by the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) to advise on and review the development of sport programmes in the Region, as well as to identify research needs and promote communication and coordination among stakeholders. This sub-committee has been instrumental in developing policy guidelines for physical education in schools; drugs in sport including drug testing; and establishing a regional mechanism to strengthen the role and impact of sports at all levels. We are yet to see the regional mechanism for sport mentioned above established anywhere. It remains a philosophical ambition and nothing more.CARICOM’s Cricket biasMuch has been written about the history of West Indies cricket and its rich legacy relative to the role it played in the liberation of us as a people.  This may well have been the critical factor that prompted the CARICOM Heads to establish a CARICOM Committee on Cricket when it was acknowledged that the fortunes of the team had fallen so badly away from what had been achieved in the era of the team under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd. The CARICOM initiative in respect of cricket may well be perceived as a sort of rescue mission for the game in the region.