Saint Lucia

The volcanic island of Saint Lucia is 238 square miles and home to 183,627 people. Saint Lucia, known for its Piton mountains and lush landscape, is one of the seven independent territories covered by the United Nations Multi-Country Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. Saint Lucia is a founding member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and is home to the OECS Headquarters and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Saint Lucia has continuously undertaken various initiatives, projects and programmes aligned with the implementation of the SDGs. In 2017, the Government of Saint Lucia established its National Coordination Mechanism for the 2030 Agenda and the Medium-Term development Strategy in 2018. These frameworks have contributed to the country's significant progress in implementing SDGs 3 and 4 on health and education towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.

Caption: Students in Saint Lucia participate in the travelling UN SDG Gallery in Castries.
Photo: © United Nations

Milestones

  1. On 16 June,1993 and 11 June, 2020, Saint Lucia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, respectively.
  2. In January 12 2019, UN Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean hosted a pop-up version of the Sustainable Development Goals Gallery to educate people on the 2030 Agenda and the importance of 17 global goals.
  3. With the support of UNICEF, in April 2019,Saint Lucia suspended and abolished all corporal punishment in public and assisted schools.
  4. On the sidelines of his attendance at the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit on 3 July, 2019 the UN Secretary General met with fisherfolk at Praslin Bay where he saw first-hand the devastating effects of Sargassum seaweed and praised the country for working on innovative solutions to combat the problem.
  5. In 2019, with the support of an eight-member inter-agency team the Government of Saint Lucia completed a Roadmap for SDG Implementation signaling its commitment to the adoption of the 2030 agenda.
  6. On 10 September 2020, the WFP signed an MOU with the Government of Saint Lucia to support the expansion of its Public Assistance Programme (PAP) to an additional  1,000 households as part of its COVID-19 Response. This initiative is part of the wider support being provided through the $4.75 M SDG Joint Fund for Social Protection 
  7. In August 2018, the Government of Saint Lucia, with the support of UNEP, launched the island’s first national environmental information system under a Global Environment Facility-funded (GEF) project.