The Promises and Challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals for Caricom Caribbean Countries

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to show that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), present a timely opportunity for CARICOM Caribbean countries to successfully advance along a sustainable and transformative developmental path. Country-relevant SDGs can be designed to address the root causes of the current developmental challenges, and reactivate economic growth along a development trajectory to end hunger, poverty, unemployment, food and nutrition insecurity, and appreciably enhance the general living standards of the population in these countries. Despite making much social and economic progress since independence, CARICOM Caribbean countries still face enduring developmental challenges, including achieving sustainable development and genuine economic transformation. The SDGs promise a truly transformative development agenda that is both universal and adaptable to country-specific conditions. But financing will be a huge challenge, and countries are cautioned about the need for good governance for the SDGs. Countries will require large and sustained amounts of investment funds. Governments cannot, and should not do this alone. Much of this financing will have to be sourced from domestic resource mobilization (DRM), including public-private-partnerships, in addition to traditional Overseas Development Assistance (ODAs), Multilateral Development Bank Funding, and Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). But the process of development must involve a paradigm change, by both the public and private sectors, on the type of transformation that is required to transition these economies to sustainable development. The methodology adopted in the paper is a rigorous analysis of the economic and social statistics, and the development experiences of these countries, through the lens of the growth and development literature.