Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: “UN Coordination boost has been crucial to tackle development emergencies"

New York, 4 April 2023 – Member State representatives and UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) partners gathered at UN headquarters to learn about the response to the volcano eruption in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in April 2021, following a coordination boost that enabled the UN team’s immediate and longer-term support to country efforts to save lives and livelihoods and recover better. 

National counterparts recalled that when the disaster struck, the UN Resident Coordinator Didier Trebucq stepped up, bringing the UN agencies together to provide immediate relief, including  removing ashes, providing food and water, psycho-social support to vulnerable groups such as women and children, rehabilitating community infrastructure, restoring livelihoods and laying the groundwork for faster recovery.

“I have witnessed firsthand the ‘before and after’ of the UN’s work on the ground following the UN development system reforms, and I express my immense satisfaction with the significant technical and financial support we have received,” said Ambassador Rhonda King, Permanent Representative to the UN of St Vincent and the Grenadines, as she called on Member State delegates to “consolidate; not roll back on reforms”.

“Within days of the volcano eruption, Resident Coordinator Didier Trebucq arrived by boat [with UN entity representatives], and sat with us to coordinate an international pledging conference to help us address our needs. Since then, we have only seen a sturdier support from the UN team, including through a blue economy funding scheme, programmes that target women’s sexual and reproductive health, and a boost for medium and small enterprises, which received training in digital technology. Today, we see over 200 per cent increase in the UN’s presence on the ground [in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines], with tangible results for the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Speaking from Barbados, Resident Coordinator Didier Trebucq recalled that before the UN development system reform was launched five years ago, the Resident Coordinator in the Barbados multi-country office was supported by only one person, with insufficient capacity to respond to multiple requests from the 10 countries and territories covered, or to their nuanced needs. With the post-reform coordination investments, particularly those tailored for our work in Small Island Developing States, the UN is not only better equipped to address demands but also making a substantive difference for island states, including in the Caribbean.

In a recorded video message Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines praised UN Secretary-General’s support right after the volcano eruption, adding that the small island nation is still recovering from the disaster which cost the country US$300 million, or 40% of GDP. 

“The Secretary-General himself pledged support from all UN entities and immediately Resident Coordinator Didier Trebucq mobilized personnel from several entities, including WFP, UNICEF, UNEP who all rushed in to provide assistance. Thanks to the RC’s support we raised US$11 million through a global appeal which also emphasized a better recovery. As a result, today, we have a more solid safety net apparatus,” the Prime Minister said, adding the essential role the UN played, especially with the island nation struck by subsequent hurricanes in 2021, and still suffering from the rise in the cost of living following Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine over one year ago.

The Permanent Representative of Barbados to the UN, Ambassador Francois Jackman, confirmed that his country and other Caribbean nations are witnessing the results of more tailored UN support on the ground, with an increase in the presence of agencies, including the UN entity for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UN-Habitat, all critical to support countries to boost climate resilience.

Mr. Trebucq added that he was proud to have brought the UN entities together to swiftly respond to the development emergency and provide immediate relief, as he mobilized resources for relief and recovery with the UN team, with an additional US$100 million in new funding for joint action mobilized. 

Recognizing the critical role the leadership and partnership of Prime Ministers and senior Government officials played in the success of the UN Reform, he maintained: “Sustaining these gains are needed now more than ever as we help SIDS to focus on responding to the existential crisis of climate change, limit the socio-economic fallout of the triple crises with rising food insecurity, and build the institutional capacities needed to manage their structural vulnerabilities. Now is not the time to backtrack. Now is the time to scale up, sustain and transform.”

Read the Resident Coordinator’s full remarks. 

Read the Case Study on the coordination results in St. Vincent and the Grenadines here.