Universal Adaptive Social Protection to Enhance Resilience and Acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Eastern Caribbean
Basic Information
Country
Geographic area
Institutions and agencies involved
SDG Fund Joint Programme on Universal Adaptive Social Protection in the Eastern Caribbean, United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, World Food Programme, WFP, International Labour Organization, ILO, United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, OECS, Saint Lucia - Ministry of Social Transformation, Local Government and Community Empowerment, MSTLGCE, Barbados - National Insurance Scheme, NIS
Population group
Children, Elderly persons, People living with HIV/AIDS, Persons with disabilities, Women
Programme Details
Programme objectives
The Joint Programme “Universal Social Protection to Enhance Resilience and Accelerate the SDGs in the Eastern Caribbean” aims to progressively increase access to social protection services towards universal coverage in Barbados, Saint Lucia and across the OECS. it also aims to ensure that social protection programmes are equipped for crisis preparation and response and help people to be more resilient to economic, climate- and health-related crises in the future.
The Joint Programme is now supporting governments’ COVID-19 response through:
- scaling up existing public assistance to increase both the reach and level of support offered to those who need it most;
- conducting assessments to assist in determining the indirect impacts of COVID-19 and identifying those in need and respective response activities; and
- strengthening the National Insurance Scheme of Barbados to gauge the impacts on its financial sustainability, enhance its information management and monitoring capacity and facilitate public access and improve communication.
Programme components
In Barbados and Saint Lucia, programme components aim to strengthen social protection systems at the national level:
1) for integrated service delivery by improving institutional capacities;
2) through the collection of evidence to inform governments’ social and disaster risk management policies and legislation;
3) through support to improve management and operational tools; and
through the development of innovative financing strategies to ensure fiscal sustainability and expanded coverage.
At community level, the Joint Programme will:
4) pilot the use of social protection to respond to the needs of vulnerable men, women, boys and girls in emergencies.
At regional level, it will support:
5) legal and policy coherence through inter-institutional engagement and South-South cooperation in the Eastern Caribbean.
Start date
Targeting and eligiblity
Targeting methods
Target groups
People living in poverty, with a focus on women, children, people with disabilities and of older age.
Coverage and other information
Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and frequency
Reporting on the Joint SDG Fund will be results-oriented, and evidence based. Each PUNO will
provide the Convening/Lead Agent with the following narrative reports prepared in accordance
with instructions and templates developed by the Joint SDG Fund Secretariat:
- Annual narrative progress reports, to be provided no later than. one (1) month (31
January) after the end of the calendar year, and must include the result matrix, updated
risk log, and anticipated expenditures and results for the next 12-month funding period;
- Mid-term progress review report to be submitted halfway through the implementation of
Joint Programme4; and
- Final consolidated narrative report, after the completion of the joint programme, to be
provided no later than two (2) months after the operational closure of the activities of the
joint programme.
Legal Framework
The agreements between each PUNO and the respective governments include:
● UNICEF
Agreement title: Basic Cooperation Agreement (BCA) Barbados
Agreement date: 23 September 1994
Agreement title: Basic Cooperation Agreement (BCA) Saint Lucia
Agreement date: 22 May 2003
● WFP
Agreement title: Basic Agreement between the Government of Barbados and the United Nations/FAO World Food Programme concerning assistance from the World Food Programme
Agreement date: 3 September 1968
Agreement title: Basic Agreement between the Government of Saint Lucia and the United Nations/FAO World Food Programme concerning assistance from the World Food Programme
Agreement date: 20 February 1979
● International Labour Organization (ILO)
Agreement title: Agreement on the Caribbean Resilience Project 2019-2020
Agreement date: 13 September 2019 (signed by Minister of Labour and ILO)
Agreement title: Memorandum of Understanding between the ILO and the OECS to cooperate on labour market issues to support national development efforts and the integration process within the OECS Economic Union
Agreement date: 20 August 2008
● UNDP
Agreement Title: Agreement between the Government of Saint Lucia and the United Nations Development Programme concerning assistance by the UNDP to the Government (*this document reproduces the text of the Standard Basic Agreement between the Government of Saint Lucia and the United Nations Development Programme, signed on 22 July 1981 by the Prime Minister on behalf of the Government, and by the Resident Representative on behalf of UNDP)
Agreement date: 9 August 1982
Agreement title: Agreement between the Government of Barbados and the United Nations Development Programme
Agreement date: 21 October 1974
● UN Women
Agreement title: Standard Basic Agreement (SBAA) between the Government of Barbados and UNDP (1974), mutatis mutandis to UN Women
Agreement date: 20 May 2019
