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, Belize, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Suriname will benefit from the project, which is expected to enhance the technical skills of decision-makers of the target 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, the current DA16 project is designed to respond to the institutional capacity needs of Caribbean member States, including capacity strengthening in data-informed policy formulation and implementation.

To this end, and in collaboration with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean conducted a workshop in project proposal preparation and effective project implementation during 19–23 May 2025, followed by a workshop in strategic policy planning during 18–22 August 2025, for senior and technical officers of the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis. 

Building on the knowledge imparted during these workshops, ECLAC is now organising a national capacity building workshop in statistical analysis for policy makers and technical officers of the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis, in fulfilment of Output 1.2 (OP1.2) of the DA16 project, which includes the conduct of national capacity building workshop on statistical analysis in each target country to raise the skills level of policymakers in the drafting of evidence-informed national policies and sectoral strategies. This training will be conducted during 25–28 November 2025.