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Sister Cities International and Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator Announce Partnership

Haiti, and island in the Caribbean region

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Sister Cities International, the largest citizen diplomacy network in the United States, is partnering with the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator to develop training opportunities, special resilience projects and technical exchanges to benefit U.S. and Caribbean smart accelerator programs. The Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator is an initiative led by Caribbean government leaders and supported by private and public sector partners and multilateral institutions to establish a shared vision for transformative climate action in the Caribbean and implement innovative solutions for achieving it. Under this partnership, cities in the United States and Caribbean will come together to lead efforts to create smarter, healthier, more inclusive, and more innovative communities. Currently, there are 54 Sister City relationships between the U.S. and the Caribbean region.

“Sister Cities International is thrilled to partner with Climate Smart Accelerator as we develop ways to allow communities to anticipate, plan for and harness opportunities around climate-smart innovations in the Caribbean region and in the United States. This is the ideal partnership to explore opportunities for growth and to develop concrete, actionable strategies that allows us to make a difference,” said Roger-Mark De Souza, President & CEO of Sister Cities International. “In keeping with our commitment to promote the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals throughout our network, we are also excited to be able to promote these objectives at a local level.”

The Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator brings together an unprecedented group of leaders to implement transformative climate action. Featured as the first high-level commitment coming out of President Macron’s One Planet Summit, Prime Ministers Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica, Keith Mitchell of Grenada, Allen Chastanet of Saint Lucia, and Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson articulated a far-reaching vision for the world’s first climate-smart zone.

Twelve Caribbean government heads and some of the largest global companies, financial institutions, and foundations have joined the Accelerator to help the Caribbean become a beacon of climate-smart development through pioneering resilience and growth initiatives. Partners will include National League of Cities, Rotary International, Kiwanis International, CIOFF, Musical Bridges Around the World, and other civic organizations. Participants will include international and regional government officials, community leaders, citizen diplomats, next generation innovators, and people from around the globe who are committed to the ideals of Sister Cities International to promote peace through people and to finding resilient solutions to the world’s climate-related issues.

Sister Cities International will highlight the partnership at the first ever Caribbean Sister Cities Summit in the Bahamas in May 2019. The Caribbean Summit 2019 will focus on Resiliency, Entrepreneurship, and Next Generation Leaders on Climate Change; and illustrate the enormous opportunities for business, cultural, tourism, educational and humanitarian exchanges through Sister City relationships. The Summit will also focus on developing synergistic alliances with global organizations to support communities as they connect globally and thrive locally.


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About the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator

Recently launched on August 9 in Kingston, Jamaica, the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator will serve Caribbean countries and regional entities, multi-lateral institutions, the private sector, and other partners to fast-track commercial and philanthropic resilience-building investments and catalyze innovative partnerships between them. To-date, 12 Caribbean government heads and some of the largest global companies, financial institutions, and foundations have joined the Accelerator to help the Caribbean become a beacon of climate-smart development through pioneering resilience and growth initiatives.

Click here to download this article as a press release.