President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Dr Hyginus Leon laments that decades after independence, small developing economies of the Caribbean continue to grapple with shocks to their economies.
“The COVID-19 pandemic was a major jolt to the international system. For the Caribbean Development Bank and more widely the development community, We saw the effects on our fragile economic and social systems, especially in small developing countries. Indeed, for the last 30 years the Caribbean has had to grapple with the blunt force trauma of a wide range of external shocks both natural and man-made. COVID-19 compelled all of us to focus even more on finding solutions to sustain our people based on evidence and an intimate knowledge of our environment,” he said.
Leon gave the keynote address last week Saturday at the launch of the book “The Caribbean Social Justice Agenda,” which was published by the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies. The book is the College’s third publication.
According to a statement from Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies, “The Caribbean Social Justice Agenda makes an important contribution to the search for fairness and equity in the face of a rapidly changing international economic system that is coupled with natural and man-made disruptions.
“The book aims to set the discourse on a wide range of issues related to the future of work and sustainable Caribbean development, social justice, industrial relations, governance systems, social protection, and social dialogue. Cooperatives and community empowerment, the future of education, migration, and security, among others, nationally and regionally,” the College’s statement said.
Despite socio-economic challenges, Leon asked if the Caribbean countries have “appropriate solutions” for the next 50 years.
“Can we design the writing of our Caribbean history? Should we be passive observers in how our history unfolds? I think that is the challenge that we need to confront. Therefore, the space which we have with this book we are launching sits how do we configure and design a future of tomorrow.”
He said the small and open economies of the Caribbean operating in a globalised world are vulnerable to phenomena to which they have no control.
He added that the small size of the Caribbean islands has limited the resources available to them.
“Our debt profile has defined the resources available externally to address our pressing challenges. Our future with resilient prosperity for all, that future will be defined by how we utilise the resource we have in abundance and over which we have total control. That resource is our Caribbean minds,” said Leon
For there to be resilient prosperity, he said there must be an equitable distribution of resources that leads to social justice.
“We must act now and we must do so with urgency, agility and dexterity. At the CDB, we have embraced that.”
Major challenges ahead
Leon listed four challenges that the region must address if it is to successfully survive the future.
These include climate change, connectivity by land, air and sea, digital connectivity and utility unified fields.
By utility unified fields, he spoke about a “super highway” of the future which carries electricity, fibre optics and possibly other utilities across the entire space
“This is to ensure that we have resilience capacities built in where the limits of the resources that individual countries have will not define the capacity for them to expand and grow.”
He said the next major challenge is implementation capacity.
“What has prevented us from growing is our inability to deliver. Implementation capacity deficit has plagued us for the last 50 years, maybe the last 100 years. Until, we solve that problem we will not make progress.”
He said the final challenge is achieving social justice and cohesion.
“This will take us into the next 50 years, building on the first 50 years of Caricom. The theme of social justice is fully aligned with the CDB’s advocacy of a holistic systems approach to development. The fact that it is a system tells you immediately that it is not about infrastructure, it is not about schools, but it is about all of those plus the most important part, which is the people.”
He also said reducing inequities in society is important as it leads to social problems like the “growing criminality” in the region.
“This is a type of tension brought about from an inequity from within the system. The tension that arise in communities is part of being outside of the mainstream of the provision of inadequate services. Reducing that inequity, reduces tensions that arise in the system.”
Finally, he called on the region’s governments to meet their obligation to protect vulnerable groups.
“The programme for advancement through health and education in Jamaica that the CDB does, is a conditional cash transfer programme based on the social contract principle and incorporates a psycho-social support element, that is an example of a preventive programme. Barbados, Belize, T&T and St. Lucia have established similar systems based on the Chilean Puente Programme model which addresses extreme poverty through psychosocial support assistance to families,” said Leon.
