BRIDGETOWN – Although gender equality is necessary for inclusive and sustainable development and poverty reduction in the Caribbean, actions to promote it still encounter resistance. Recognizing this, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is consulting with regional stakeholders to update its gender strategy—to achieve great progress on gender equality in the Region and align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in 2016.

“Actions to promote gender equality still encounter resistance at all levels – policy, institutional, community, household and individual. This resistance, along with natural hazards and governments’ fiscal constraints present additional challenges to leveraging financial allocations for gender work. In view of the persistent inequalities that remain, the Bank has committed to revising the Gender Equality Policy and Operational Strategy to reinforce and restructure our efforts to achieve gender equality,” said Deidre Clarendon, Division Chief, Social Sector Division, CDB, at a workshop and consultation for representatives from government institutions responsible for gender equality.

CDB’s Gender Equality Policy and Operational Strategy (GEPOS), published in 2008, provides the framework for the new policy, which is scheduled for completion in 2019. As part of the revision process, the Bank hosted the event at its headquarters in Barbados from October 4 to 5. Participants examined the results of an external evaluation of the 2008 GEPOS, commissioned by CDB’s Office of Independent Evaluation. Clarendon noted that one of the recommendations from the evaluation was that CDB and its Borrowing Member Countries need to work together with increased coherence and cooperation, in order to enhance gender equality in the Caribbean Region…[+]