Country Coordinator in St Vincent and the Grenadines

The Multi-Country Office review introduced new capacities to support countries covered by a Resident Coordinator based elsewhere, which is especially important for Small Island Developing States. Meet La Fleur Quammie, the “Country Coordinator” in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which is a member of the Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Multi-country Office team.  La Fleur’s work has been focused on connecting various stakeholders for joint initiatives in the country, and to enable more effective engagement with the Resident Coordinator and the Government in support of accelerating the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

In the aftermath of eruption of La Soufrière Volcano (April 2021), one of La Fleur’s first tasks when she joined the team in September, was to enable the Resident Coordinator to bring UN entities together to support Government’s recovery effort from the eruption, which affected livelihoods and displaced 20,000 people – of a total population of about 110,000.  Having La Fleur on the ground meant that she was able to quickly establish a coordination team and serve as interlocutor between those UN entities present in country and those that are not, as well as civil society organizations to provide coordinated support to government needs.  La Fleur, who supported the negotiations on behalf of the Resident Coordinator, is also proud of the inauguration of the UN common premises in the country, which allowed the UN entities in the country, under one roof, to operate in a more efficient and coordinated manner.