The Mental Health, Psychosocial Support Technical Working Group within the Ministry of Health is now better equipped to respond to the needs of persons displaced by Hurricane Beryl and the first responders who continue to serve in the wake of the multiple crises in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Women and youth in the northern town of Speightstown in Barbados are among key groups earmarked to be empowered to build climate resilience and safety in their community. The opportunity will be fueled through a new Joint Programme entitled: “Putting Youth and Women in the Center of Climate Resilience and Safety in Barbados” that is being implemented by UN Women and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Government of Barbados

On a recent visit to Grenada, Tonni Brodber, Representative for the UN Women MCO - Caribbean presented tablets and software for land and agri-fisheries business registry online help desks which were developed and the tablets furnished under the Joint UN Trust Fund for Human Security, a project funded by the Government of Japan

“It is pause for thought that this cost in terms of GDP of violence against women and girls in Grenada is 5.24%. These are significant resources that could be directed elsewhere. This is an area that I hope as duty bearers we can look at closely with a gender-budgeting lens, our new way of doing business."

When Hurricane Beryl tore through the Caribbean in early summer, it left a trail of destroyed homes, unpassable roads, and ruined local infrastructure. As nations begin to rebuild after Beryl and brace themselves for even more storms, UN Women has been on the ground and working to ensure that women are fully integrated into recovery efforts.

Across the world and the SIDS, women depend more on, yet have less access to resources. Women are employed in sectors with high vulnerability to disasters and climate change, concentrated in tourism-related services and sales sectors, making them more exposed to economic shocks during and after the crisis than men, whose employment is more diversified. Unleashing the power of women as first responders to crisis, disaster risk reduction, and building economic and environmental resilience is crucial to achieving sustainable development.

At the recently concluded Gender Equality Forum in Antigua and Barbuda, more than two hundred stakeholders, coming from more than 40 countries across all SIDS regions as well as non-SIDS areas and representing a wide range of constituencies and sectors, committed to the vital advocacy for and implementation of key actions to ensure that gender equality is at the center of the SIDS agenda.

SIDS hold countless opportunities for resilience-building that can propel their progress and achievements towards sustainable development, and despite notable progress towards gender equality, they also have distinctive challenges that hinder women and girls’ empowerment and their rights. That is why UN Women co-hosted a Gender Equality Forum from 25 to 26 May in Antigua and Barbuda, ahead of the fourth International Conference on SIDS (SIDS4).

Government representatives, leaders from women's and civil society organizations, and regional intergovernmental frameworks met to assess the challenges for peaceful and safe societies in the Caribbean

The United Nations Joint Programme, "Modernisation of the Social Protection Systems in Jamaica, Towards an Adaptive, Shock Responsive, Inclusive System" has concluded after a robust programme of work which enhanced social protection payment systems while strengthening the capacity of government to respond to the most vulnerable Jamaicans during emergencies.

The region’s progress on implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the efficacy of the United Nations partnership in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, came under the microscope this week, as regional Governments joined with the United Nations System to assess their joint response to regional development priorities under the current UN Multi-Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework

The Barbados Statistical Service (BSS) and UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) - Caribbean have partnered to implement a regional initiative aimed at determining the contribution of unpaid domestic care work to the economy, introducing targeted questions to the Continuous Labour Force Survey.

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.

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.

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.

The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center announced today a new partnership with UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean to tackle the most pressing gender-based challenges in the Caribbean, which will focus particularly on Guyana and Jamaica

The Caribbean is sounding a rallying call to the rest of the world to change how it finances climate action, including by taking gender into account when financing climate investments.

“If we know that women and girls living in the Caribbean cite that public spaces are unsafe because of harassment and unwanted behaviour such as groping and catcalls at work, at school, on public transportation, and we know that every fifth woman in Caribbean has experienced sexual harassment or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime, then we may have a problem with harassment and violence in our space.”

This Caribbean Resilient, Inclusive, Smart and Safe (RISS) Cities Model for the planning and development of public space in urban and other settlements addresses the integrated nature of urban planning

Ayesha Constable is a climate researcher and practitioner who applies a feminist approach to her work as a scholar activist. She is co-founder of GirlsCARE and founder of Young People for Action on Climate Change Jamaica. As a young woman in academia and climate action, Ayesha uses every opportunity to promote the intersectionality of climate impact and gender inequality and advocate for more women and girls in climate action.