“These past weeks have been truly eye opening for me. Out of the tragedy seems to have come a positive evolution in the sub region’s media landscape. Armed with smartphones, social media and storytelling with a distinctively Caribbean style, I have seen “newscasts” being broadcast from seemingly every quarter.  We want to create a platform for authentic voices to speak to their realities while ensuring that fact checking strengthens that authenticity.”

Rhea Yaw Ching, Executive Director of Covela Foundation, and longtime promoter of local digital content said:

“We are pleased to be spearheading this significant initiative and even more grateful to our foundation media partners: Global Voices, Loop, Truly Caribbean and Senseo Digital Agency.” She continued, “Out of these recent storms, we have an ideal opportunity to expand the ecosystem of indigenous digital Caribbean content as well as create content that accelerates the efficiency and effectiveness of Caribbean governance.”

Participation in the program is open to all. Persons are invited to post, or repost stories, videos, photographs or music over the next few months to the newly created Facebook Page called @ourcaribbeanvoice.
In order to maintain the integrity of the content the following guidelines should be used:

1. A hashtag showing the country of origin;
2. A hashtag showing the community (where applicable);
3. A hashtag indicating the hurricane responsible for the devastation (where applicable); and
4. Additional hashtags showing the Caribbean Spirit:
   • #OneCaribbean,
   • #CaribbeanHope and
   • #CaribbeanStrong.

Additional information should include:

1. Date or Date Range
2. Time (where applicable)
3. Name (for attribution)