A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) consists of 15 Member States:  Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago The CARICOM Secretariat (CCS) is the principal administrative organ with several responsibilities to assist CARICOM achieve its Objectives.

A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness One of the functions of the CCS is to:  Coordinate the activities of donor agencies, international, regional and national institutions for the achievement of the objectives of the Community. Specifically on Aid Effectiveness, Member States (MS) have mandated the CCS to serve as their representative on the Working Party for Aid Effectiveness.

A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness Among the objectives of the Community are:  Improved standards of living and work;  Accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development and convergence;  Expansion of trade and economic relations with third States;  Enhanced functional cooperation including: (i) More efficient operation of common services and activities for the benefit of its peoples; (ii) Accelerated promotion of greater understanding among its peoples and the advancement of their social, cultural and technological development.

A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness Consequently, the CCS initiates and facilitates activities at a regional level ensuring that the contribution of MS is incorporated in the eventual regional decision or action; In this process, the CCS recognises and respects the sovereignty of MS; A significant amount of Aid is negotiated for regional policies.

A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness As such, the Aid Effectiveness Agenda is very relevant to the CCS and MS. CARICOM subscribes to The Partnership Commitments on:  Ownership: coordination of aid with donors and encouraging the participation of civil society and the private sector ;

A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness CARICOM subscribes to The Partnership Commitments on:  Developing reliable country systems which can transparently provide assurance that aid will be used for agreed purposes as well as the development of transparent performance assessment frameworks;  Harmonisation of Donors’ actions and building of more effective and inclusive partnerships with all development actors;

A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness CARICOM subscribes to The Partnership Commitments on:  Intensifying the focus on managing for results;  The accountability of both Donors and Partners for the achievement of development results; and  Implementation of mutual Donor/Partners assessments of progress.

A Caribbean Perspective on Aid Effectiveness Current CARICOM status: In fulfilling the MS’ mandate to represent them at WPEFF, the CCS intends to organise a regional meeting to which all MS will be invited to develop a regional framework for action, based on these principles. The CCS will also seek to catalyse the development of individual national frameworks. The CCS will assist MS to leverage support from WPEPP, TT-SSC and other agencies to develop and implement individual MS frameworks.

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