Barbados earlier this month held a national consultation with key stakeholders to build on its public warning system recognising that the island faces various hazards that can pose risks to its population, infrastructure, environment and development progress.

With the support of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in Jamaica, UN Women hosted a four-day Civil Society Organisations’ Capacity Strengthening Retreat that brought together women’s rights groups, community-based organisations and other CSOs working with marginalized groups where training and dialogue were provided focusing on legal literacy, the implementation of community-based GBV programmes for key vulnerable populations and the creation of proposals to secure technical assistance and grants, which included skills building in finance planning and monitoring and evaluation.

"Different age groups may have varying perspectives, experiences, and approaches to addressing gender-related issues. This is where intergenerational dialogue plays a pivotal role. It brings together individuals from various age groups, allowing them to exchange ideas, share experiences, and learn from one another"; remarks from a 3-day Regional Intergenerational South-South Exchange in Barbados with 39 civil society organisations from 11 Caribbean countries

Joint Statement by Parliamentarians, representatives of national gender machineries, civil society representatives, and experts, on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

How ready is your Civil Society organisation to receive and effectively implement funding? This was the crux of a recent EU-UN Spotlight Initiative capacity building workshop series for CSOs in Trinidad and Tobago. The workshop series recognises that CSOs bring about positive change, have a significant impact on various social issues and are key proponents in supporting communities. The series aims to empower CSOs to improve their capacity to better serve their various and sometimes underserved communities.

The Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians of CARICOM this week at its 48th meeting, endorsed the UN Women MCO-Caribbean commissioned CARICOM Guidelines and Protocols on the Collection and Use of Administrative Data on VAWG. Administrative data reflects what is recorded/captured by an agency or service provider interacting with victims or survivors or perpetrators of gender-based violence.

In a landmark event, the Government of Guyana, with support from the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, hosted a three-day Ministerial Forum on Empowerment and Gender Equality - under the theme “Shared experiences towards developing robust national and regional models for the 2030 Agenda”

Only Two Caribbean Countries Meet 30% Gender Quota for Women Parliamentarians: Region Cannot Reach Full Potential Without Including Women in Leadership Roles. This data was revealed at an EU-UN Spotlight Initiative virtual event with implementing partner Atlantic Council on, “Best Practices to Expand Women’s Political Participation in Guyana and Jamaica.”

The UN Women gender-based violence prevention initiative for young people aged 13 to 24, Foundations Programme, took another step forward in implementation under the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in Guyana. More than 80 participants from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), schools, community groups, faith-based organisations, and government entities such as the Guyana Police Force completed the Training of Trainer workshops held May 15-18, 2023, in Region 6 and July 4-7, 2023 in Region 7

The United Nations Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW) will be convened from October 23 to 27, 2023 hosted by the Government of Panama; leaders, activists, policymakers and experts from across the region will assemble to take stock on the critical challenges of climate change ahead of COP28 in Dubai.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) play a central role in shaping societies, advocating for social justice, and driving positive change. In recognition of this, the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative placed strong emphasis on empowering these organizations and enhancing their effectiveness. Through Spotlight, UN Women MCO Caribbean is supporting capacity building workshops across the region

Under the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, UN Women implementing partner Atlantic Council brought together UN agencies, Government officials from several departments, civil society representatives, academics and students to discuss the challenges and opportunities around ending GBV and enhancing women’s economic empowerment.

Six Caribbean women entrepreneurs with the support of UN Women Caribbean joined women entrepreneurs from 14 countries in Jabalpur Madya Pradesh India for the Madya Pradesh Women Entrepreneurs (MAWE) Business Beyond Borders International Conference and Exhibition.

A two-day workshop was part of a series of training hosted under the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative Caribbean Regional Programme and implemented by the UN Women Multi-Country (MCO) Office – Caribbean and the National Women's Commission to equip CSOs with the skills to secure funding opportunities for sustained programmes, manage projects effectively, improve financial planning and ensure accurate reporting for accountability

The EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in the Caribbean is partnering with women’s rights groups, women-led civil society organizations (CSOs), and other relevant community-based CSOs to improve their capacity to influence national and local women’s rights and gender equality agendas and better serve the needs of most marginalized communities

Representatives of women’s football committees across the Caribbean Football Union, completed a two-day, capacity-building workshop in Miami, Florida, with commitments to implementing advocacy activities in the respective member associations and to working on a joint strategy.

The EU-UN Spotlight Initiative is supporting The Barbados Police Service (TBPS) Family Conflict Unit with its data capture and management of gender-based violence cases.  Officials from the EU and UN Women presented computer equipment to the specialised unit of the BPS to process, store, and analyse data on gender-based violence.

“Empowerment is access to resources, strengthened skillsets, access to justice and social protection mechanisms. If we want to ensure men are also thriving in those areas, then we have to reframe what men see as dignity. It is not defined by power over, but your humanity and contribution to your space. We have to let young men know they have so much to offer within the formal economy, because we see them thriving in informal ways that are risky and life threatening”.

"…if we want equality in our countries, we need to understand the differences - in terms of a woman's ability to engage in the economy and being a man, and being a young person… unfortunately women are put at a disadvantage in our society because of the expectations of the roles they are supposed to play, and sometimes their own self-imposed expectations about what their potential can be in a society."

On the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, there is a call for urgent action for Justice for Afro-descendant people