Social security reforms and their implications for the Caribbean

As in many other countries, the viability and sustainability of social security systems in the Caribbean is of concern to policy makers. Although systems in the region remain relatively young, liquid and healthy at this time, timely reform is necessary to prevent a crisis in the future. Reform is required to grapple with population ageing, a fairly large informal (non-contributing); sector in some countries, high open unemployment and the impact of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS);. Caribbean social security systems (pension branch); are defined benef…

The Contonou Agreement: Selected issues, effects and implications for Caribbean economies

Long term growth in the Caribbean: a balance of payments constraint approach

The long-term growth of economies of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) exhibits three characteristics. First, the aggregate rate of growth of CARICOM economies has declined over time. Second, the decline is attributed mainly to the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) as the More Developed Countries (MDCs) have in fact improved their growth performance. Third, all economies show a stagnation in growth since the middle of the 1990s. Fourth, a process of increasing divergence characterizes the growth performance of CARICOM economies.…

Social security in the English-speaking Caribbean

Over the last years issues concerning social security have become important items on the economic and political agenda as given current projections, the financial sustainability of current social security schemes is questioned. Research on social security in the Caribbean is however rather limited, providing decision makers with few answers on how to tackle the issue of reform in the region. This paper highlights the current status of social security in the region. By presenting indicators of recent performance and identifying challenges that schemes in the region face, the study aims to contr…

Gender and the Millennium Development Goals

It has now been five years since the landmark United Nations Millennium Declaration and related Development Goals (MDGs), wad adopted by Member States. The Declaration is a blueprint for action and has created a political momentum which holds great potential not only for improving the rights and empowerment of women, but more fundamentally for achieving the MDGs. The targets and indicators represent concrete benchmarks to measure progress on the eight development goals. The 2000 Millennium Declaration commits States to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to c…

ECLAC Launches the Caribbean Knowledge Management Centre

Integrating gender into macroeconomic policy and The use of gender indicators in public policy-making.

This issue of the Gender Dialogue focuses on two programmatic areas of ECLAC’s work over recent years, namely (i) integrating gender into macroeconomic policy and (ii) the use of gender indicators in public policy-making. In its work on integrating gender into macroeconomic policy, the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean conducted a study to determine the capacity of economic planning units in selected countries of the subregion to integrate gender into the macreconomic planning process and the findings are highlighted below. The study is intended to assist in the development of a…

Caribbean small states, vulnerability and development

New technologies and methodologies for intervention to promote development

Technology transfer can be defined as a broad set of processes covering the flows of know-how, experience and equipment for mitigating and adapting to change amongst different stakeholders, such as governments, private sector entities, financial institutions, nongovernmental organizations and research/education institutions. It covers technology transfer processes among developed countries, developing countries and countries with economies in transition. It involves learning to understand, utilise and replicate the technology, including the capacity to choose and adapt to local conditions and …

Combatting violence against women: actions and strategies

Gender review and assessment of HIV

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean in collaboration with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Caribbean Office is reviewing gender issues in Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) programmes and projects being developed or implemented in the Caribbean subregion. The main objective of this review, of which this report is one component, is to assist in developing a programme for combating HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean within the context of their mandate to provide technic…

Economic survey of the Caribbean 2004-2005

Information and communications technology in the Caribbean: Stocktaking report

Report of the meeting on developing an agenda to address equity gaps in Caribbean SIDS

Migration in the Caribbean- What do we know?: an overview of data, politics and programmes at the international and regional levels to address critical issues

Gender and HIV/AIDS

This issue of Gender Dialogue focuses on Gender and HIV/AIDS. It highlights the main findings of a gender assessment of policies and programmes in selected Caribbean countries carried out by the ECLAC subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean in collaboration with UNIFEM. It also coincides with the launch of the Regional Coalition on Women and AIDS in November 2005.…

Labour market trends and implications of regional integration

Labour markets represent the backbone of economic functioning, providing the means of survival to populations, with labour income ensuring the livelihood of workers and families alike. Labour is also an essential input into production - in many cases it is the main input, especially in service sectors which are dominant sectors in the Caribbean. As such, labour markets define economic well-being: in competitive economies labour is paid its marginal product. This implies that only productive labour prospers as higher productivity implies higher earnings, which in turn allows for higher consumpt…

Issues in the development of a regional mechanism/consultative framework for effective coordinated and coherent implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action/ Mauritius Strategy in the Caribbean

Comparison of the socio-economic impacts of natural disasters on Caribbean societies in 2004

This study sets out to synthesize the several country reports to address the terms of reference. It therefore examines the nature of the events as they impacted the countries in 2004 and seeks underlying common local conditions that might have contributed to damage. It therefore follows to a great extent the presentation structure of the national reports on the impact of the disasters.…

Major statistical publications- abstracts. Vol VIII