THE School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES) of the University of Guyana will, today, be hosting a public lecture on ‘Private Sector Engagement: An Imperative for Disaster Risk

Management in Guyana’, by visiting Professor to the SEES, Dr Balfour Spence in the Education Lecture Theatre, Turkeyen Campus, commencing at 17:00 hrs.

According to a press release from the UG Public Relations Division, the lecture will explore the process of engagement of the private sector in Guyana, in building capacities and partnerships for reducing disaster risk and thereby enhancing the ability of the country to realise its developmental goals in a sustainable manner.
Dr Spence is quoted in the release as saying: “Critical to the challenges associated with this process of engagement is an operational definition of the private sector.”
Additionally, he stated that the presentation is intended to challenge decision-makers to promote a more expansive definition of private sector to include not just larger businesses, but medium and small traditional and informal economic enterprises.
“Every Guyanese transacts business with one private sector enterprise or another and as such this sector has the capacity to make significant contributions to the enhancement of the goals and strategies of comprehensive disaster management,” Dr. Spence noted.
According to the release, the SEES will host a brief ceremony after the lecture to launch their Research Series Publication, and all are invited to the lecture.
Dr Spence is currently a Professor and Chair in the Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies Department at Brandon University, Canada where he applies 23 years of active academic research and scholarship to the delivery of the Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies programme.
He has worked extensively throughout the Caribbean region as an academic researcher and practitioner in disaster risk management and has spent short stints working in this capacity in Indonesia and the Philippines. He joined the staff at Brandon University in 2008 from the University of the West Indies where he taught for 16 years.
Dr Spence has been engaged as a consultant for numerous disaster risk management and environmental management-related projects in the Caribbean region and his academic research has been supported through research grants from a number of international funding agencies.
He has co-authored one book entitled “Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool: A Technical Manual”, contributed chapters to several books and has published over 25 papers in academic journals. In addition, he has presented numerous conference papers on issues related to disaster risk management and environmental management, and prepared/contributed to over 20 technical reports.