Happy Friday everyone!
We did it! We hosted our first event: The Food and COVID-19 webinar!
Special thanks to our amazing speakers, Ms. Jamala Alexander, Dr. Teresa Barry, Dr. Arlette Saint Ville and Ms. Chereca Weaver for their enlightening presentations. Also, we are so grateful for our amazing Yugen Team members who planned, promoted and executed the entire event. And to you, the #YugenCommunity, thank you for tuning in, supporting and participating in the first of many more Yugen Stories events to come!
For those of you who haven't had a chance to tune in yet, feel free to watch it here! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCtItHEap5Y
Additionally I would definitely recommend checking out this fantastic blog post done by one of our amazing Lead Bloggers, Rhianna Smith, on the issue of Food Security and COVID-19 in the Caribbean : https://www.yugencaribbean.com/post/the-hungry-elephant-in-the-room-confronting-the-matter-of-food-security-in-the-caribbean
Honestly, the findings and discussion that developed from the webinar presentations were astounding and insightful to say the least and I enjoyed every minute of it.
To begin the event’s discussion, the Founder and President of Yugen Stores, Ms. Jamala Alexander, gave us a brief overview on the COVID-19 and its impact on global economies and more specifically, economies within the Caribbean region. She presented a detailed background on the issue of food within the region and tailored it to the COVID-19 pandemic and Caribbean economies in the midst of climate change.
One of the main things that stood out for me in Dr. Barry’s presentation was the gendered aspect of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security. She found that more women in the hospitality industry were affected than men whereas more men were directly affected by the shocks to the agriculture sector within the region. Her presentation certainly highlighted the direct relationship between livelihood and food security in the midst of a pandemic.
Dr. Saint Ville’s presentation certainly addressed the nutritional aspect of food security and highlighted the existing nutritional deficiencies that persons experienced within the region prior to the pandemic. Her seamless explanation of the effect of COVID-19 on this regional issue was thought provoking and insightful to say the least.
Last but by no means least, Ms. Chereca Weaver emphasized the region’s need to focus on developing and investing in our regional and local supply chains. Such a feat would definitely help to buttress the Caribbean region from external shocks.
I would love to hear your thoughts on yesterday’s event. Which items in the presentation surprised you or piqued your interest? Let me know in the comments :)
- Caron D.
Hey Daniella!
Firstly, thanks for being an amazing host for the webinar! I really enjoyed it 😊
And woah that is such an important point you brought up there. I'm really happy that the webinar was a means of regional experts presenting the facts and figures to a regional audience because it truly helps in being able to guide our decisions and change policy in the Caribbean.
Hey Caron! I'd definitely have to say the gendered aspect of Dr. Barry's presentation on food security surprised me the most. I also liked that she was able to give us figures for the Caribbean based on her reasearch because so many times Caribbean data on certain topics aren't readily available so I was very happy to see current statistics for the region on this topic :)