A Caribbean Regional Forum
Port of Spain, Caribbean, March 20-21, 2000

We, representatives of civil society organisations from across the Caribbean, call on the international community, governments and civil society to adopt the following recommendations in order to act upon the commitments made by governments at the World Summit for Social Development.


Recommendations on the Enabling Environment

1. Developed countries should honour their commitments to fostering an enabling environment at the global level.

2. The international community needs to address the problem of international trade policies which undermine the commitments of the Copenhagen Summit. Caribbean countries feel that they are particularly disadvantaged under existing world trade agreements.

3. Resources released from debt relief initiatives should be used to develop appropriate health and education services targeting the most vulnerable groups. CSOs should be involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of such programmes.

4. There should be better co-ordination between international agencies, governments and CSOs, in social and economic development.

5. Countries need to develop and use homegrown mechanisms for determining needs and solutions. Appropriate socio-economic indicators should be developed which reflect the realities of Caribbean societies, their smallness and vulnerability.

6. There should be a cross-sectoral, inter-disciplinary intra-regional approach to socio- economic development policy.

7. There is a need for an improved data collection and analysis capacity of CSOs & government to analyse and monitor government social policy. This in turn would ensure better and more effective use of empirical data to inform the best ways to target social and economic sectors.

8. There should be reform of the process of governance in order to build participatory approaches to policy formation and implementation.

9. CSOs need to build their capacity and resources in order to engage in more meaningful dialogue at national level. There should be more information sharing amongst civil society in order to inform people, deepening partnerships and working together at grass-roots level.

10. There should be an effective recognition of the needs of marginal groups within society (women, youth, indigenous peoples) in order to plan and provide services for them.

Recommendations on Poverty Eradication

1. There needs to be a strategic link between macro-economic framework policy and the overall social development planning process for the eradication of poverty. This should lead to the establishment of realistic targets for social and economic achievements in Caribbean societies.

2. There should be a co-ordinated regional, local and international approach to poverty eradication, with better and more effective co-ordination of social development agencies and ministries in fighting poverty. Better co-ordination between government ministries would lead to a more coherent governmental approach to poverty eradication as well as to the reduction of duplication among different ministries. Donor intervention also needs to be better co-ordinated.

3. There needs to be an interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach to policy and implementation on poverty eradication. There should be a greater level of participation of CSOs in the planning of anti-poverty
policies.

4. There should be a national development framework based on a collective vision of human development. This includes human rights, e.g. adequate nutrition, proper health, education, shelter, water, employment.

5. Important financial resources are used to pay off external debts. The international community should cancel these debts enabling the resources to be targeted at social programmes.

6. Natural disasters such as hurricanes have a major effect on poorer people who live in homes and areas most likely to be affected. There needs to be a coherent and comprehensive approach to disaster management that targets the most vulnerable in society.

Recommendations on Employment

1. The recognition of the rights of workers, with freedom of association and movement is important to ensure good quality jobs. Governments need to review and reform labour legislation to ensure workers rights. These should particularly emphasise the rights of minority and indigenous groups.

2. The formulation of employment policies should be participatory.

3. Governments need to regularly monitor progress towards implementing the commitment made on employment creation in the Copenhagen Summit. This monitoring should be done with employers and employees’ organisations with the involvement of CSOs.

4. There is a tendency to under-report unemployment figures for political reasons. Governments should produce clearly defined figures on unemployment.

5. Unemployed people need access to information on jobs. Governments should create national and regional jobs’ banks providing information on jobs. CSOs should be involved when appropriate.

6. Governments should develop fiscal and other economic incentives for small micro industries.

7. Governments should provide incentives to employers to provide jobs, train and retool employees.

8. It is the responsibility of the State to ensure the deployment of adequate resources to create employment. Governments should have human resource development plans and strategies.

9. Governments should develop the productive capacities of communities and help develop and encourage related infrastructures to ensure that produce can be marketed and sold.

10. Governments should reshape the education system to prepare for new demands and employment opportunities. They should re-examine the education system and look at attitudes to work. All students should have access to vocational training.

11. The labour movement needs to re-examine its roles and be more pro-active, establishing alliances with CSOs.

Recommendations on Social Integration

1. There is a need for a structured response from individual countries, the Caribbean region and the international community to address social exclusion. The response should address the political, economic, legal and constitutional constraints to social integration and propose coherent plans and policies to combat them. CSOs should be involved in identifying the problems as well as the development of policies to promote social integration.

2. Governments should honour commitments undertaken in international conventions which promote social inclusion. They should develop appropriate mechanisms for timely and effective implementation of the provisions made in international conventions. Among others, governments should ratify the ILO Convention 169 on rights for indigenous people.

3. Governments should employ a multi-disciplinary approach when addressing social exclusion issues.

4. Governments should reform the educational system in order to enhance and promote concepts of inclusion.

5. Governments should ensure that adequate provision is made for reducing the level of socio-economic dislocation caused by macro-economic reform (privatisation) on vulnerable segments of society.

6. Governments should promote concepts and mechanisms of volunteering as a way of enhancing social cohesion and collective action by communities and individuals.