Office of the Premier
Friday, April 5, 2024
Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Ms Limya Eltayeb presented her credentials to the Premier, Hon. Joseph E. Farrell during a courtesy call to the Office of the Premier on Wednesday, 3rd April.
Following the presentation of credentials, Ms Eltayeb and Premier Farrell discussed priority areas for the UNDP through which Montserrat can access support. Ms Eltayeb explained that the UNDP has USD$50,000 which can be used to support any of Montserrat’s priority areas once they align to the UNDP’s portfolio and priorities. In this regard, Premier Farrell indicated that priority should be given to fund the digital transformation efforts being undertaken by the Government of Montserrat.
The UNDP Resident Representative committed to providing this support and will begin with the UNDP undertaking a Digital Readiness Assessment of Montserrat. This assessment will evaluate Montserrat’s digital strengths and weaknesses, and identify areas in which digital interventions and actions can be prioritised for implementation here.
The funds are expected to be utilised before the end of December 2024.
Other priority areas which were discussed included, Climate Change action and environmental protection; blue economy; governance; social protection, justice and inclusion, and innovation through the UNDP’s Accelerator Labs. The labs are aimed at advancing sustainable development efforts by utilising insights from local innovations to design and test actions for 21st century development.
As it relates to the blue economy and the accelerator programme, the UNDP Official has offered to arrange a mission to Montserrat through which officials from these programme areas at the UNDP Barbados office can visit Montserrat and provide technical support to the respective Ministries leading on these initiatives locally.
Both the Premier and the UNDP Resident Representative have committed to continued dialogue on other areas for support and collaboration.
Ms Eltayeb was accompanied by Head of Experimentation at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Accelerator Lab for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Shamar Ward.
They both spent the day meeting with senior Government of Montserrat officials and other Ministers of Government to understand the development needs of Montserrat and areas for further support.
