Background 

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean is currently implementing a Development Account (DA) project titled “Strengthened capacity to design and implement policies to enhance resilience in Caribbean SIDS” under the 16th tranche of the Development Account. The objective of this DA16 project is to strengthen national capacities of Caribbean countries to design and implement policies and strategies for accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and building resilient economies. Six Caribbean countries, namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Suriname are benefitting from the project, which is expected to enhance the technical skills of decision-makers of these countries in the development of policies and projects to promote sustainable development and build resilience to shocks, while strengthening national institutional capacity to facilitate greater synergy in the implementation of the SDGs and the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States (ABAS). 

The midterm review of progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a sobering account of the slow pace of achievement of the SDGs. The COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts have negatively affected progress on SDG targets related to poverty, hunger, and climate action, while earlier gains recorded in promoting health and wellbeing, advancing quality education, and reducing inequalities are seriously threatened, if not reversed. More recently, the higher tariff regime being pursued by the new United States administration is disrupting global financial markets and has introduced new uncertainties for global trade that could constitute barriers to trade in goods and services for Caribbean SIDS. These events have severe implications for foreign exchange reserves of nations. Furthermore, global crises and their impacts exacerbate the subregion’s existing vulnerabilities, which include susceptibility to the impacts of climate change, exposure to natural hazards and disasters, increasingly unsustainable public debt, and limited technical and institutional capacity to effectively manage development challenges.

Considering the global environment in which Caribbean SIDS operate and noting that the timeline for the 2030 Agenda is now just five years away, there is an urgency to accelerate action in implementing the SDGs. This will require strengthening national and subnational capacity, accountability, and public institutions to deliver accelerated progress towards achieving the SDGs. In its call to action for the transformation required to fully achieve the global Goals and their targets in the remaining years of the 2030 Agenda, the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 underscores the need for capacity building at individual, institutional and network levels. Capacity development is also prominently emphasized across thematic areas in ABAS, the Outcome Document of the Fourth International Conference on SIDS (SIDS4). 

Due to the human capital limitations that Caribbean countries face, there have been notable national planning and implementation gaps hindering sustainable development and resilience building. Therefore, capacity strengthening at institutional and individual levels is crucial for resilience building in the Caribbean. Of particular importance is the consistency with which Caribbean countries acknowledge in their Voluntary National Review (VNR) reports presented to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development their need for capacity strengthening. Furthermore, countries have also acknowledged significant data gaps in their VNRs, an outcome that ECLAC has attributed, in part, to low statistical literacy in the public sector. Therefore, this DA16 project is designed to respond to the institutional capacity needs of Caribbean member States, including capacity strengthening in evidence-based decision-making. 

To this end, and in collaboration with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean conducted a national training course in project proposal preparation and effective project implementation during 16–20 June 2025, followed by a national capacity building workshop in strategic policy planning during 7–11 September 2026, and a national capacity building workshop in cost-benefit analysis during 14–18 September 2026 for senior officials and technical officers of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. Building on the knowledge imparted during these workshops, and in furtherance of Output 1.2 (OP1.2) of the DA16 project, which includes the conduct of a national capacity building workshop per target country on statistical analysis to raise the skills level of policymakers in the drafting of evidence-informed national policies and sectoral strategies, ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, is organizing this workshop to be held in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda during 21–25 September 2026.

Rationale 

In its first VNR presented in 2021, Antigua and Barbuda acknowledged its vulnerabilities, as well as challenges in implementing the SDGs in areas such as financing for development, statistical capacity, and monitoring and evaluation systems. In particular, it recognized the need for the strengthening of Antigua and Barbuda’s statistical capacity towards improving collection, analysis and dissemination of high-quality data by the Statistics Division and the national statistical system. It also highlighted Antigua and Barbuda’s relatively low capacity as reflected by a score of 44.4 on the World Bank’s ratings of Overall Level of Statistical Capacity in 2020.

In addition, as the host country of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, Antigua and Barbuda has championed the sustainable development course of SIDS in recent years, including serving as co-chair of the United Nations High Level Panel on the Development of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) and establishing a SIDS Center of Excellence that incorporates a SIDS Data Hub, a technology and innovation mechanism, and an Island Investment Forum. In promoting these global initiatives, Antigua and Barbuda has also reiterated its capacity needs whilst calling for increased development assistance to SIDS.

Although senior officials and technical officers in Antigua and Barbuda are not expected to be experts in statistics, gaining some basic understanding of statistical analysis will improve their decision-making ability, as the knowledge gained on this topic will enable them to “ask the right questions” and competently interpret and understand statistical data presented to them in briefs and study reports. Statistical literacy, especially in data analysis, is critical in enhancing their functionality.