As International Development Partners (IDPs) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meet to examine the priority areas for development in the Community and to match the IDPs interests and resources with those priorities, the IDPs have been assured that CARICOM continually assesses its performance.
CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque told the opening of the Fourth High-Level Donor Forum, underway at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana, that the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is supporting a results-oriented management system which will be implemented across Member States and Institutions of the Community.
The system will provide a monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework for the implementation of the Community Strategic Plan, 2015-2019, with indicators for determining the overall success and impact of regional integration.
Speaking to an audience comprising Ambassadors accredited to CARICOM from Third States; the CARICOM Committee of Ambassadors; Heads of CARICOM Institutions; representatives of international organisations and the CARICOM Secretariat, Ambassador LaRocque said monitoring and measuring would not only help CARICOM to improve its performance, but also enhanced the effectiveness of development outcomes and accountability to all its stakeholders, particularly the people of the Community.
.jpg)
He stated that the implementation of the Community Strategic Plan required significant investments, by way of financial and human resources, capacity-building at the level of Member States, and effective coordination, which exceeded CARICOM’s current endowments and capacities.
Against that backdrop, the discussions over the next two days are critical to exploring how Development Partners can assist the Community to achieve the objectives of the Plan. There will be an exchange of views and ideas on the Strategic priority areas of the Plan.
Rallying the support of IPDs, Ambassador LaRocque said: “Friends, this time presents an opportunity to assess, re-think, strategise, to build, and to effect change that redounds to the benefit of all the people of our Community. The objective is to build a more resilient, inclusive and unified Caribbean Community.
For you, the opportunity presents itself to be associated with a successful development partnership that could become a model for development co-operation.
We need the buy-in and support of our friends in development, in our earnest endeavours to deliver on the aspirations of our people, especially the youth, in an increasingly challenging and complex world. With this imperative in mind, let us work together to have a productive Forum, whose outcome will have a positive and lasting impact on the people of the Caribbean,” the Secretary-General said.
The overarching objective of the Community Strategic Plan is to build or enhance the resilience of the CARICOM Member States to withstand the social, economic, environmental and technological challenges, putting the Community on a path to sustainable development.
