On February18th and 19th, the Department of Communication of Rijksdienst Caribisch Netherland (RCN), in cooperation with the Dutch Representation Office in Willemstad, Oranjestad and Philipsburg, organized the Conference “Communication, Power of the Kingdom” on Bonaire. It was an initiative to join together regional cooperation within the Kingdom, to learn from each other and to exchange experiences with one another. More than 70 communication professionals and crisis coordinators from the government and semi-government communication organizations from Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten were on Bonaire for this conference.
The conference was particularly successful. There was a lot of enthusiasm in response to the speakers and the participants participated actively in the group sessions, in which practical cases were dealt with. Aldrich Croes discussed a crime and communication crisis on Aruba and what they had learned from the Natalee Hollloway case. Marco Leewerink took theparticipants on a journeyof the environmental analysis and Paul Martens told about communication during hurricanes and tropical storms. Jefka Alberto covered the power of communication during riots, floods and the murder of Helmien Wiel. Wouter de Jong informed the participants about the importance of the force field in communication and Ivar Nijhuis shared his experiences of the Nuclear Summit in The Hague and the air disaster with the MH 17.
In addition to sharing of knowledge there was also enough time to get to know each other better. A new professional network has been established because of this. A platform in which communication professionals can help and inform each other. It is the first time a conference of this magnitude took place on Bonaire. The interesting and smooth-running programme met the approval of all participants. The enthusiasm was transferred and, if adequate resources are available, a new conference will be organized on one of the participating islands. Here also, the motto will be “Communication, Power of the Kingdom”. Because, as Kingdom Representative Gilbert Isabella said during his opening speech: “not communicating is not an option”.
For the Conference, on assignment of RCN, a documentary was made about among others natural disasters, crisis and crimes that have taken place in the past on the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St.
Maarten. The documentary was written by historian Franklin (Boi) Antoin and is produced by the youth organization BYOF under the leadership of Dennis Martinus. There is a short 8 minute version and a long version of 24 minutes. Since it is a piece of history of the Islands, we want to share this and you will find the link of the short version
and the long version.
Note for the Editor: for more information you can contact RCN Communication, Lucia Beck (781-9050) or Alida Francis (781-0434).
Source: The Daily Herald Communication Conference first step towards enhanced cooperation
View comments
Hide comments