About the Barbados and the OECS Subregional Office

UNDP Barbados and the OECS Multi-Country Office

Welcome to the website for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office for Barbados and the OECS; nine (9) Member States make up the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States  (OECS). UNDP Barbados is a subregional, multi-country office.

It serves a total of 10 territories that include both independent countries and British Overseas Territories in the Eastern Caribbean. These are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Christopher and Nevis (also called St. Kitts and Nevis), Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

What We Do

Our mandate for Barbados and the nine Member States of the OECS is to support their individual and collective development goals as well as achieve results and outcomes that support sustainable people-centered development. The Subregional Cooperation Framework (2005-2007) for Barbados and the OECS, which is based on regional and national priorities, provides assistance within the scope of UNDP’s Six Practice Areas:

Democratic Governance Democratic Governance
Energy & Environment

Poverty Reduction
HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS
Crisis Prevention and Recovery
Crisis Prevention and Recovery
Women's Empowerment Women's Empowerment

giving priority to the relevant region-specific programme areas.

To learn more about how we fit into the larger UN and UNDP system, and how we coordinate our efforts with partner organizations, see the page on "The UNDP and the UN".

MDG8 MDG7 MDG6 MDG5 MDG4 MDG3 MDG2 MDG1

Anguilla

Anguilla's thin arid soil is largely unsuitable for agriculture, and the island has few land-based natural resources. Its main industries are tourism and fishing.

Antigua & Barbuda

The national dish is fungie (pronounced "foon-gee") and pepper pot. Fungie is a dish very similar to the Italian Polenta, being made mainly of cornmeal.

Barbados

The British system of longitude was discovered by charting the distance between Portsmouth, England and Bridgetown, Barbados, by using the position of the sun in relation to both locations.

British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands comprise around sixty semi-tropical Caribbean islands, ranging in size from the largest, Tortola (approximately 12 miles by 3 miles), to tiny uninhabited islets.

Commonwealth of Dominica

The isle of Dominica is one of the youngest islands in the Lesser Antilles, and it is still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity.

Grenada

Grenada is called The spice island because there is (post- Ivan)more spices per square mileage than any other. Though second only to Malaysia in quantity they are number one in quality.

Montserrat

In July 1995, Montserrat's Soufriere Hills volcano, dormant throughout recorded history, rumbled to life and began an eruption which eventually buried the island's capital, Plymouth, in more than 40 feet (12 m) of mud.

Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis

Prior to European arrival, the island was settled by Neo-Indian peoples for over 5,000 years, with the latest arrivals, the Kalinago peoples, arriving approximately 3 centuries before the Europeans.

Saint Lucia

It is also known as the "Helen of the West Indies" as the island switched between British and French control so often it was likened to the mythical Helen of Troy.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Agriculture, dominated by banana production, is the most important sector of this lower-middle-income economy. The services sector, based mostly on a growing tourist industry, is also important.

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target: Halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger.

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Achieve universal primary education

Target: Ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school.

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Promote gender equality and empower women

Target: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.

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Reduce child mortality

Target: Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five.

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Improve maternal health

Target: Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.

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Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS; halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

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Ensure environmental sustainability

Target: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources; Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water; Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020.

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Develop a global partnership for development

Example Target (out of six total): In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies.

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Democratic Governance
Democratic Governance

Democratic Governance.

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Poverty Reduction
Poverty Reduction

Poverty Reduction.

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Crisis Prevention and Recovery
Crisis Prevention and Recovery

Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

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Energy and Environment
Energy and Environment

Energy and Environment.

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HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS.

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Women's Empowerment
Women's Empowerment

Women's Empowerment.

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Subregional Programme Document

The second Subregional Programme Document (SPD), for the period 2005-2009, is the product of extensive subregional consultations and takes into account the priorities identified by individual governments of Member States of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Government of Barbados, the Sub-Regional Organization - the OECS Secretariat.

The identified areas of thematic focus – poverty reduction, democratic governance, energy & environment, disaster risk reduction and disaster management – are integral priorities within the regional cooperation framework being implemented by Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and is a part of the wider Caribbean development agenda and its supporting functional cooperation programme.

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