With the Caribbean as a whole, still plagued by both short and long-term problems which, in the instances of several countries, continue to seriously retard their socio-economic development, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has tagged as one of its highest current priorities the replenishment of its Special Development Fund (SDF) to allow for continuity to enable the alleviation of some of the region’s more acute socio-economic challenges. The disclosure regarding the Bank’s search for resources with which to sustain its critical support programme to respond to the socio-economic challenges facing the Caribbean was made public just over a week ago even as the need for emergency action of one kind or another to be applied to such challenges confronting some Caribbean countries becomes increasingly critical. The Bank’s SDF is an integral element of its overall poverty reduction and sustainable development undertaking for the Caribbean.
The concern that has surfaced about replenishment funding comes as the SDF draws closer to the end of its 10th four-year cycle, during which it has disbursed over $2.1 billion in development financing, realizing what its disclosure says has been “significant progress in regional economies.” The Bank says that in order to sustain the impact of its ongoing support for the region’s development, beyond its current cycle, it must now undertake a replenishment exercise that takes aim at increasing contributions from existing donors and enlisting new ones for the emergency resource-garnering exercise.
The Bank is particularly concerned about maintaining the robustness of its SDF, its largest pool of concessionary funds, and a critical tool in the pursuit of its objective of confronting poverty and human development challenges across the region. The SDF, it says, is a testament to the power of collaboration and targeted investment.
It adds that in order to ensure its sustainability it is “deepening dialogue with current partners and engaging new collaborators to secure resources needed to propel the Region forward despite challenges.”
If it is to navigate its way towards securing the requisite funding for its critical assignments, going forward, the meeting, which was slated to end yesterday would have had to go through several layers of discourses with likely funding sources. The Bank says that the critical negotiating process through which it hopes to garner the requisite funding and which commenced on Wednesday March, 20, in Guyana will involve “high-level representatives from the CDB’s member countries and global institutions” and that it will seek to “chart the course for the SDF’s future impact.”
