Presenting the aims and activities of CEDREFI in the Indian Ocean region
The Centre for Documentation, Research and Training on the South West Indian Ocean (CEDREFI) is a research oriented non-governmental organisation with a focuson sustainable development and regional co-operation issues.
The Centre for Documentation, Research and Training on the South West Indian Ocean (CEDREFI) was set up in 1981. It is a research oriented non-governmental organisation based in Mauritius. The Centre’s main focus is on sustainable development and regional co-operation issues in both Mauritius and the Indian Ocean region, with a special focus on the islands of the Indian Ocean. Here, the Director of CEDREFI, Pynee A Chellapermal, provides an insight into its aims and activities.
During the past 24 years, CEDREFI has initiated projects with the aim of promoting, disseminating and advancing through research, advocacy and actions the vital concept of people-centred development, particularly in Mauritius, and a firm belief that the islands of the South West Indian Ocean (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles) cannot achieve full development unless they work in close association with one another. The Centre has, however, extended its activities in the context of the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action to the other islands of the Indian Ocean such as Maldives, Sri Lanka and Zanzibar (United Republic of Tanzania). Workshops, training activities and research programmes have been developed among the islands and with certain other civil society partners in the Indian Ocean region. Currently, CEDREFI is involved in the following areas of activity: a medicinal plant project known as ‘Traditional medicine of Islands’ (TRAMIL Indian Ocean); regional co-operation and integration among the islands of the region and in Africa; an electronic clearing house on the islands of the Indian Ocean; and on the issue of vulnerabilities of islands.
At national level, the organisation has been working on issues such as the social impact of industrialisation, policy-oriented research on industrialisation strategy, the challenges of participation of non-state actors in the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement, developmental problems faced by the Mauritian artisanal fishing community, and a pilot project on climate change at grassroots level at Grand River South East in Mauritius.
The Centre’s expertise enables it to participate in the networking process at national, regional and international level. In this context, CEDREFI forms part of various national committees on policy dialogue with government, and was the focal point for Southern African Development Community civil society for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. It is also the Indian Ocean islands’ representative on the Steering Committee of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. At present the Centre is working closely with the Small Islands Voice initiative of UNESCO, and is the convener of a civil society process in the Indian Ocean on Barbados+10.
Consequently, it plays its role as a fully fledged partner in the development process through reflection, research, action-research, information dissemination, advocacy and training on human sustainable development, the social economy and regional co-operation in the Indian Ocean region.
Most of the members of CEDREFI are scholars from a variety of disciplines including economics, sociology, geography, political science, communications, development, environment and international relations. The implementation of projects and activities is entrusted to the CEDREFI secretariat headed by a Director who is assisted by a multidisciplinary team of collaborators and specialist-advisers.
For further information contact:
Pynee A Chellapermal
Director
CEDREFI
PO Box 91
Rose Hill
Mauritius
Telephone +230 465 5036
Fax +230 465 1422
E-mail pynee@mu.refer.org
