This inaugural issue of the Caribbean Regional Spotlight Initiative Newsletter highlights foundational elements established so far to ensure the success of the regional programme.

UN Women MCO Caribbean launched a series of dialogues across the CARICOM region on men as partners to realise gender equality in partnership with the Government of Canada. Men were drawn from various disciplines including activists, community and social workers, and they focussed on personal meanings of masculinities, masculinity in Barbadian communitiesand understanding the connection between masculinities, power imbalances and forms of gender injustice.

Building on the lessons learned from its pilot work with rural women small farmers and decent work interventions with Caribbean domestic workers, the MCO Caribbean is broadening its partnerships to address the economic vulnerability of poor rural women-headed households.

UN initiated gender and child assessments of Country Poverty Assessments of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the British Virgin Islands, the final results of which will be available in a few weeks, will further enrich the evidence base to inform gender and child responsive social policies in the sub region.