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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago - On the 3th of December the Strategic Planning Retreat (SPR) for the UN Multi Country Sustainable Development Framework (UN MSDF) for the Caribbean was held in Trinidad and Tobago.

The event brought together UN senior officials and representative from the government across the region.

The SPR was held on the 3rd of December under the theme “leave no one behind”, underlining the importance of inclusion in all the priorities for the Caribbean region. During the SPR, the synthesized results were presented of the successful national consultations that were held across the Caribbean, including in Trinidad and Tobago.  

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Richard Blewitt, in his remarks underlined the importance of the new UN MSDF by saying that “it will provide participating countries with greater synergies in UN programming and stronger monitoring, reporting and evaluation, while increasing the UN’s support to Governments in strengthening integration and coherence in addressing both regional perspectives and national needs and priorities”.

Based on the results of the national consultations, and taking stock of the comparative advantages of the UN system, four draft strategic priorities were identified, namely: a healthy Caribbean; a sustainable and resilient Caribbean; a safe and just Caribbean; and an inclusive, equitable and prosperous Caribbean.

There are two cross-cutting aspects that bind these priorities together. First, all of them are interconnected. This implies that they cannot be achieved if they are addressed in silos. Second, they are built on the core SDG concept of equitable development for all, “leaving no one behind” as a prerequisite for prosperous and sustainable societies.

The UN MSDF is based on a multi-sectorial approach, which will build on the comparative advantage of each UN entity, with a view to focusing on the most vulnerable groups, including women and children.  In light of this, the themes of gender, youth, equality, human rights, governance, education, and data and information for decision making are considered under each of the four main priority areas.

By putting these issues under one umbrella, the UN MSDF addresses the root causes of life-long exclusion of the vulnerable groups of each country, and puts the spotlight on their economic, environmental and social situations. It allows a human rights based approach to development, and focuses on making countries more conducive to inclusive growth. This allows for context specific strategies, based on the comparative advantages of the UN.

This approach will imply promoting social and economic inclusion in an equitable way through access to education, decent work opportunities, the promotion of entrepreneurship and improved social protection. It demands economic development from a human centered perspective that can respond to the specific factors that have affected the ability of the Caribbean to remain competitive, including brain drain and limited fiscal space to support technological innovation.

Mrs. Jacinta Bailey-Sobers, the Permanent Secretary, noted in her speech on behalf of the Minister of Planning and Development, the Honorable Camille Robinson-Regis, that this consultation comes at a critical juncture in the development of the Caribbean region. She acknowledged that “none of us has been spared the efforts of the global decrease in commodity prices, and the tightening of the pipeline of foreign direct investment and aid.” 

Ms. Rianna Gonzales, from the Caribbean Youth Environment Network, participated in the meeting in representation of the youth. Ms. Gonzales noted that youth should not be considered a cross-cutting issue since young people will be the ones who will drive the Strategic Development Goals, which have a fifteen year time span to come to fruition. Speaking of ways of catalyzing young peoples’ attention on these issues, Mr. Stephen -O’malley, Resident Coordinator for Barbados and OECS, encouraged the UN system to make a greater use of social media tools and platforms to leverage youth’s engagement and active participation.

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