Caribbean nations should leverage their resilience to navigate world uncertainty, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar mentioned Thursday in the course of the launch of the United Nations Improvement Programme’s (UNDP) 2025 Regional Human Improvement Report for Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Talking on the high-level occasion in Port of Spain, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar emphasised the area’s capability to rise above vulnerability, calling on leaders, establishments, and communities to behave decisively. “Why ought to geography decide dignity? The Caribbean is aware of vulnerability—however we additionally know resilience. We all know tips on how to rise, and we should rise collectively. Not only for ourselves however for the generations to return,” she mentioned.
The Prime Minister framed the UNDP report, titled “Underneath Stress: Recalibrating the Way forward for Human Improvement,” as a information for creating extra inclusive and future-ready growth methods. She harassed that these difficult occasions demand “fast motion with long-term imaginative and prescient” and a recalibration of conventional growth fashions to raised serve all residents.
Persad-Bissessar’s remarks highlighted the area’s twin actuality of vulnerability and innovation. She known as for a renewed social contract that reduces inequality, strengthens civic belief, and safeguards basic freedoms, together with well being, schooling, and financial alternative.
The UNDP report underscores these factors, noting that the Caribbean faces a number of crises—from climate-driven disasters and financial shocks to fragile governance buildings—but the area has persistently grown in human growth phrases over current a long time. It recommends constructing resilience by smarter insurance policies, stronger establishments, and extra sturdy bodily and digital infrastructure.
Mischelle Muschett, UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, echoed the Prime Minister’s concentrate on resilience. She mentioned, “Constructing resilience isn’t non-compulsory—it’s a necessity on this planet we dwell in at the moment… It requires investing in individuals, strengthening establishments, and re-imagining the social contract for a brand new period of uncertainty.”
The report additionally highlights the crucial function of digital applied sciences in fostering resilience however notes persistent gaps in entry. Lower than 40% of Caribbean households have a pc, prompting UNDP to advocate for investments in digital literacy, reasonably priced gadgets, and inclusive digital ecosystems.
An interactive digital model of the report is out there, providing country-specific knowledge, visualizations, and coverage suggestions.
