Two hun­dred com­mu­ni­ty vol­un­teers grad­u­at­ed from the 2025 Com­mu­ni­ty Emer­gency Re­sponse Team (CERT) train­ing pro­gramme to­day, as the Min­istry of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment (MoRDLG) strength­ened ef­forts to build dis­as­ter pre­pared­ness and re­silience across Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mo­ny was held at the Na­pari­ma Bowl, San Fer­nan­do, and show­cased the Min­istry’s on­go­ing com­mit­ment to equip­ping com­mu­ni­ties to re­spond ef­fec­tive­ly dur­ing emer­gen­cies.

De­liv­er­ing the fea­ture ad­dress, Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Khadi­jah Ameen con­grat­u­lat­ed the grad­u­ates, not­ing that their ded­i­ca­tion re­flects true com­mu­ni­ty lead­er­ship.

“To­day isn’t just about re­ceiv­ing a cer­tifi­cate—it’s about ho­n­our­ing your de­ci­sion to stand up, to serve, and to be there for your com­mu­ni­ty when it mat­ters most,” Min­is­ter Ameen said.

Min­is­ter Ameen fur­ther not­ed that ex­pand­ing the CERT pro­gramme com­ple­ments the Gov­ern­ment’s wider flood mit­i­ga­tion and dis­as­ter re­silience ini­tia­tives, led in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Min­istries of Works and In­fra­struc­ture, and Agri­cul­ture and Fish­eries.

“While flood­ing will oc­cur from time to time, our goal is to re­duce the im­pact through in­fra­struc­ture works and en­sure that com­mu­ni­ties are equipped and pre­pared to re­spond ef­fec­tive­ly,” she said.

The CERT Pro­gramme equips vol­un­teers with skills in first aid, fire safe­ty, search and res­cue, and emer­gency co­or­di­na­tion, em­pow­er­ing them to act as first re­spon­ders dur­ing crises.

The Min­istry ex­tend­ed con­grat­u­la­tions to the 2025 CERT grad­u­ates and ex­pressed grat­i­tude to all train­ers, co­or­di­na­tors, and dis­as­ter man­age­ment of­fi­cers who con­tin­ue to build safer, stronger, and more re­silient com­mu­ni­ties na­tion­wide.