In a region where hurricanes intensify, droughts linger, and climate shocks increasingly define daily life, the question is no longer whether disasters will come—but whether systems are ready to act before they do. This was the central challenge posed and urgently debated during the recent “Putting People First: Regional Workshop on Disaster Risk Financing and Anticipatory Action in the Caribbean.”Across three days of dialogue, governments, development partners, donors, and technical experts confronted a hard truth:  Preparing financially to manage disaster risks is critical in the Caribbean—and its value is greatest when support reaches people early, before losses escalate and recovery becomes more difficult . For families watching their crops wither, for farmers bracing for the next dry spell, and for communities living on the margins of risk, the value of financing lies not in its existence, but in its accessibility, speed, and impact. The workshop marked a clear turning point in how the region is thinking about disaster management. Moving beyond reactive models, participants emphasized anticipation, readiness, and delivery. Discussions showcased practical, actionable solutions: layered disaster risk financing instruments designed to mobilize funds at different stages of a crisis; stronger and more adaptive social protection systems that can expand quickly in times of need; and early warning triggers that translate forecasts into early action.In times of disasters and climate crises, financing is not just a technical exercise; it is a human one. If systems fail to deliver when warnings come, then even the most accurate forecasts and well‑designed financial tools risk falling short. A common theme noted during discussions, was the gap between early warning and early action.That gap is where the real work lies.The workshop further underscored that closing it requires more than individual solutions; it demands coordinated regional action. This commitment was formalized through a major milestone: the launch of the Caribbean Anticipatory Action Working Group. More than just a platform, it signals a growing recognition that no single country or institution can tackle these challenges alone. By bringing together stakeholders across the region, the Working Group aims to strengthen collaboration, share data and best practices, and ensure that anticipatory action becomes a standard, not an exception. What emerged from the workshop is a shared understanding: the systems of tomorrow must be built around the needs of people today. This means designing financing mechanisms that are accessible to the most vulnerable, ensuring that policies are grounded in lived realities, and prioritizing speed and flexibility over bureaucracy.As the Caribbean looks ahead to another hurricane season and an increasingly uncertain climate future, the message from this gathering is clear and urgent:
Putting people first is not a slogan. It is a strategy. In a region where the stakes continue to rise, it is the only approach that will truly deliver. This initiative was made possible through the generous support of The Government of Canada, ECHO, The Government of Germany, Global Shield, The Government of Ireland, The United Kingdom Government and the United States Government.  

 The report I present today reflects a shared journey over nearly a decade.  A journey marked by change, by difficult choices and by steady, determined transformation.  We began in 2017 with a clear objective:  to ensure that the UN development system could support countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The reports I presented at that time provided a candid diagnosis.  The system was too fragmented when coherence was required; too internally competitive when collaboration was essential; too limited in structure and capacity to effectively respond to the needs of countries and people.Reaching our objective required ambition.  It required:  closely aligning the UN development system with the Sustainable Development Goals themselves; using the Pact for the Future to guide us, particularly its emphasis on better use of digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI); better aligning functions to country priorities; strengthening capacities to deliver on country needs, enabling United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to focus on operational delivery; and ensuring effective leadership and coordination within UN country teams.Together, with the strong support and guidance of Member States and colleagues across the system, we have reshaped how we operate.At the centre stands a strengthened resident coordinator system — empowered, independent, accountable and equipped to meet Member States’ expectations.  Cooperation Frameworks are enabling the system to work more closely around national priorities.  The UN development system has strengthened its coordination and responses.  And we’ve reinforced accountability and transparency across the system.Together, the UN and Member States agreed on a Funding Compact — to provide more flexibility and predictability of resources to allow the system to work better together.The report I am presenting today demonstrates the results of these reforms.  Recent surveys show that 94 per cent of Governments now assess UN development system support as effective.The share of host Governments recognizing Resident Coordinators as effective entry points to the UN system increased from 62 per cent in 2019 to 90 per cent in 2025.  And 80 per cent of host Governments report solid UN support in transformative areas — from food, health and education to digital learning and climate action.These results are reflected in people’s lives:  more people receiving food assistance; more children gaining access to education; more individuals and families benefitting from social protection; and more national institutions better able to deliver on development.We have also made progress on efficiency.  In 2025 alone, UN entities reported well over $900 million in efficiency gains, including by streamlining services and supply chains, increasing the use of shared services and other measures.  We will continue to relentlessly ensure sound financial stewardship of funds in the most effective and impactful way possible.The United Nations development system today is more coherent, more accountable and more closely aligned with national priorities than it has ever been before.  But, with less than 1,700 days until the 2030 deadline, many countries face growing pressures — slowing growth, rising vulnerabilities and debts, greater exposure to shocks, and shrinking fiscal space.At the same time, development financing is declining at an unprecedented pace.  The system is better equipped — but increasingly under-resourced.  This is a defining moment.The direction we choose now will determine whether the progress of the past decade holds — or unravels.  I see four areas where action is essential to ensure the UN can deliver with the scale and urgency needed.First — more effective alignment with country and regional priorities.  Despite best efforts, the UN development system remains fragmented.  This limits the ability of UN country teams to provide integrated responses.Capacities present in country are not always the capacities needed to deliver the support required — including because country teams are responding to earmarked funding and project-based approaches.  The work of regional teams often remains disconnected from needs on the ground.Missed opportunities persist to unlock development resources by working together more efficiently.  This is why we must bring reforms to the finish line — and raise their ambition.  At the country level, we will continue reconfiguring country teams around Cooperation Frameworks with clear, sequenced targets and strategic funding pathways.This also means more and better expertise that is easily accessible and better able to support governments in their development efforts. At the regional level, we will bridge the gap between regional capabilities and country-level impact.Regional Platforms for Integration will unite capacities across development, humanitarian, and peace and security into light, responsive mechanisms — built to provide timely, agile support to countries.This means no change in — or confusion of — mandates.  Our goal is to ensure countries can access assets across the UN system to deal with complex challenges.  To do this, we are recalibrating the leadership and capacities of the resident coordinator system.We must ensure that resident coordinators can optimally lead country teams in fast-evolving contexts and apply the full extent of the UN development system’s support on key issues, including climate change.We are also assessing potential mergers — between UNDP and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) — to strengthen our ability to advance sustainable development and gender equality, while advocating for the rights of women, girls and youth.  At every step, we will respect mandates, consult with Member States and ensure that reforms do not affect ongoing UN operations.Second — we are continuing the next phase of reform under the UN80 Initiative.  UN80 contains key proposals to identify efficiencies and ensure a greater share of our resources — human and financial — are allocated for development results.These include:  joint knowledge hubs to streamline knowledge in priority areas; an expertise-on-demand mechanism for countries to access specialized UN capacity; a unified service road map to expand shared services; and a technology-accelerator platform and a system-wide data commons so countries can access the tools and information they need.These are practical measures designed to channel more resources and capacity towards results on the ground.  As we push forward on these important reforms, we will continue counting on the full engagement and support of Member States.Third — funding.  Contributions to the UN development system suffered the highest cuts among all development partners and are projected to decline further this year.  Core funding remains well below agreed targets.Most funding continues to be short-term and tightly earmarked — limiting flexibility and undermining collective priorities.  And the resident coordinator system remains underfunded and dependent mostly on voluntary contributions — and faced a $46 million shortfall in 2025.  This places coordinated delivery at risk.While the provision of $53 million from the Regular Budget for the resident coordinator system was a step in the right direction, it is not sufficient.  Sustainable structural change cannot rely on temporary measures.  We need more stable, predictable and flexible funding.  I urge Member States to reach the 30 per cent core funding target called for by the Funding Compact and help equip the system to deliver and succeed.And fourth — in these final years towards 2030, we need Member States themselves to continue the push to achieve the SDGs.  While the UN is reforming, Member States need to give coherent guidance across governing bodies of the UN development system.They also need to ensure their national budgets are targeted to development, job creation, education and poverty eradication.  In the context of today’s out-of-control military spending, countries need to re-prioritize and spend more on the instruments of peace and development and less on the instruments of destruction and death.And I renew my call to Member States to support our efforts to reform the global financial architecture and deliver meaningful debt relief to countries swamped by debt.  Last year’s Sevilla Commitment pointed the way forward, and I call on all countries to translate its great promise into reality for developing countries.Our experience over the past decade has shown that change is possible.  The system we have built is stronger — but its success depends on continued effort, commitment and support.In short, reform can work — but we need to keep working together.  Let’s continue building a stronger and more effective development system that delivers for countries and people everywhere.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the United Nations (UN), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) formally launched two landmark regional documents: the CARICOM–UNDP Diagnostic Document and the Proposed CARICOM–UN Framework for Action, establishing a shared and coordinated implementation path for confronting crime and violence across the Caribbean through a public health lens.Prevention: a System-Level ReframingThe launch, convened in Basseterre over 21–22 May 2026, brought together government representatives, regional institutions, the UN system, civil society, academics and international development partners. The two instruments shared at the launch were developed through a sustained process of regional consultation and represent a multi-sector commitment to prevention-oriented security governance in the Caribbean.The Diagnostic Document consolidates data, analysis, trends and other indicators for making the case for the public health approach to crime and violence. The Framework for Action Document operationalises the political commitments already endorsed by CARICOM Heads of Government, setting out a coordinated, multi-sector implementation pathway across health, education, justice, social protection, and community systems that can support prevention across nationally divergent contexts.Central to both documents is the recognition that violence reduction is, at its core, a governance reform agenda. National success, the framework suggests, depends on cross-sector coordination, protected financing, and sustained political will that allows prevention to operate at scale and endure beyond individual political cycles.Dr. the Honourable Terrance Michael Drew, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and current Chair of CARICOM explained that one of the most difficult challenges in advancing a preventative approach to crime and violence is not necessarily proving the science behind it, but convincing leadership structures and the wider society to embrace a shift away from viewing crime solely through the lens of policing and punishment. “Nothing can really be done unless there is political will. Political will is what allows us to implement policies and to put whatever is necessary behind them. To see CARICOM and the United Nations now throwing their weight behind the preventative approach for the Caribbean I am hopeful because I know this will work. And if this framework is implemented, the next decade when it comes to crime and violence in the Caribbean will be much better than the previous decade.”Alison Drayton, Assistant Secretary-General for Human and Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat, commented “Interconnected threats demand more than isolated national responses. They require coordinated regional action grounded in evidence, solidarity, resilience, and sustainable development. This launch represents a pivotal transition from shared concern to collective, strategic action. By formalising the CARICOM-UNDP Diagnostic Document and the CARICOM-UN Action Framework, we are translating the political consensus of our Heads of Government into a sophisticated, region-wide mechanism for change. Our partnership with the UNDP is instrumental in this evolution. It allows us to address the fundamental drivers of insecurity, poverty, social exclusion, and lack of opportunity, with a comprehensive development agenda..”Stephanie Ziebell, Resident Representative a.i., UNDP Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean speaking on the first day, said “The CARICOM-UNDP Diagnostic Document we are launching… plays an important role in helping us move beyond treating symptoms. It provides a shared regional evidence base that allows us to better understand how violence is shaped by interconnected social, economic, institutional, and even transnational dynamics… At the same time, the accompanying CARICOM-UN Framework for Action takes us a step further. It moves us from understanding the problem to thinking about how we build solutions. It is not a one-size-fits-all blueprint, but rather a flexible framework that countries can adapt to their own realities and their own priorities.” A key strand of the two-day gathering is the Partner and Donor Roundtable, bringing together stakeholders from across the region, including regional institutions, the UN system, civil society, and others.Joanna Kazanna, UN Resident Coordinator for Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Aruba, Curacao and St Marteen stated: “Across the Caribbean, governments are increasingly recognising that violence cannot be addressed through enforcement measures alone. Sustainable reductions in violence require prevention systems that are rooted in communities, supported by institutions, informed by data, and coordinated across sectors. These documents reflect an important regional shift toward treating violence as a development and governance challenge, not simply a security issue. The United Nations system working as one, is proud to support CARICOM and Member States in building the long-term enabling conditions for prevention, resilience, and social cohesion across the region.”The Basseterre launch is a bridge between regional policy and national implementation and a catalyst for the 3rd CARICOM Regional Symposium on Crime and Violence, feeding directly into deliberations by Heads of Government and potential communiqué outcomes. A Strategic Alignment Session on Day 2 will draw together inputs from across the two-day dialogue to identify priority implementation paths toward a Regional Framework 2026–2030. Both the CARICOM–UNDP Diagnostic Document and the Proposed CARICOM–UN Framework for Action are now public and available here: https://go.undp.org/caricom-diagnostic                                                                                                                                                                       About UNDP in the CaribbeanUNDP works in over 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities and exclusion. In the Caribbean, UNDP’s Multi-Country Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean supports governments and communities across governance, resilience, climate, and human development. About CARICOMThe Caribbean Community (CARICOM), established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973, comprises 15 Member States and five Associate Members. Its mandate spans economic integration, foreign policy coordination, human and social development, and security cooperation across the Caribbean region. About United NationsThe United Nations is an international organisation founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN is guided by the purposes and principles contained in its Charter. The UN works to maintain international peace and security, protect human rights, deliver humanitarian aid, promote sustainable development, and uphold international law. Media contactKhalil Goodman, Communications Consultant Email: khalil.goodman@gmail.comWebsite: www.undp.org/barbados

The Government of Saint Lucia, with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has launched its draft National Migration Policy, positioning the country as a regional leader in evidence-based, inclusive migration governance. The policy, launched with an Official Media Briefing and Panel Discussion on Monday 18 May, reflects a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, grounded in data, stakeholder consultations, and a forward-looking vision that recognizes migration as a driver of sustainable development. At its core, the draft National Migration Policy seeks to ensure that migration in Saint Lucia is effectively measured, monitored, and managed through a gender-sensitive, rights-based, and development-oriented framework. It prioritizes key areas such as labour migration, diaspora engagement, data systems, protection of vulnerable groups, and migration governance in times of crisis, while promoting national resilience and inclusive growth. Speaking at the official media briefing, Patrice Quesada, IOM Caribbean Coordinator, emphasized that migration is a cross-cutting issue that “does not belong to one sector” but “cuts across different aspects” of society, requiring coordinated action from government, civil society, and the private sector. He noted that the policy is built on extensive data and consultation, ensuring it reflects the realities of Saint Lucia’s migration landscape. Highlighting the broader regional context, Mr. Quesada pointed to demographic decline and labour shortages as critical challenges facing Caribbean countries. He explained that Saint Lucia’s proactive approach demonstrates how migration can be leveraged as part of the solution, helping address workforce gaps, strengthen resilience, and support long-term development. He further underscored that the country is “showing what developing a migration policy that is fit for purpose and forward-looking” can achieve for the region.  Ambassador for Diaspora Affairs, Julian Dubois, highlighted the transformative role of the diaspora, calling for a shift from “brain drain” to “brain gain” and “brain circulation.” He stressed that migration should not be seen as a loss, but rather as a strategic asset, noting that “migration is not just a statistic, it is a living, breathing bridge” connecting Saint Lucia to global expertise, innovation, and investment.  “The island of Saint Lucia may be bounded by 238 square miles of beautiful Caribbean island, but the nation of Saint Lucia is global.  Effective migration management is the key that unlocks this global potential.” The Ambassador urged stakeholders to strengthen diaspora engagement through structured and modern mechanisms, including knowledge exchange and investment opportunities, to unlock the full development potential of Saint Lucians abroad. He emphasized that remittances, which play a critical role in supporting households, must be complemented by policies that encourage long-term investment and economic transformation. The policy was developed through a comprehensive, multi-year consultative process involving government ministries, civil society organizations, international partners, and the Saint Lucian diaspora, with the support of the IOM Development Fund. This inclusive approach helped ensure that diverse perspectives are reflected, reinforcing the policy’s objective of balancing national interests with humanitarian considerations and human rights. As the Ministry of External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and Diaspora Affairs moves forward to engage the Cabinet of Ministers toward finalization and adoption of the policy, stakeholders acknowledged that implementation will be critical. The next phase will include further consultations, refinement, and the development of a costed implementation and monitoring framework to translate policy commitments into tangible outcomes. For more information about IOM’s involvement in this process, contact Maxine Alleyne-Esprit, Communications Officer, IOM Caribbean malleyne@iom.int   About IOMThe International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organization promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. IOM works closely with governments and partners to support migration governance, humanitarian response, and sustainable development.