Region must address structural weaknesses, says CDB head

Barbados and other regional states are being urged to build resilience in several key areas as they seek to repair their economies.

At the same time, President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Dr Gene Leon is calling on the regional communications sector to play a greater role in assisting countries to achieve “a healthy development ecosystem”.

Dr Leon warned that as countries undergo their rescue and recovery economic and social programmes, they must address a range of underlying structural challenge, which he said created the vulnerabilities that make the region susceptible to shocks.

“Specifically, we must foster social resilience, production resilience, financial resilience, environmental resilience and institutional resilience,” said Dr Leon.

“While they are all important for systemic integrity, binding constraints require prioritization and a structured approach, over time, to ensure no dimension is left behind or left unaddressed. This can only be achieved through innovation, defined as the development and application of ideas and technologies that improve goods and services or make their production more efficient,” he explained.

He made the remarks in an address to the 52nd Annual General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) on Tuesday.

Dr Leon said there were some steps the Caribbean had to overcome so that the region and its institutions could go for another five decades.

“We will have to successfully negotiate the rescue and recovery of our region’s economies and social fabric in the wake of setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, overcome the structural weakness that existed before the pandemic, and reposition our economies to become secure, high productivity, competitive and resilient economies that our people can confidently choose as the place for living,” he said.

He explained that a healthy development ecosystem was one in which countries had production capacity to withstand exogenous economic shocks, where there were no barriers that might prevent individuals from reaching their full potential and accessing social services, and where there is adequate financial buffers with strong financial management.

The CDB boss said it also called for the building of resilience against natural hazards, as well as capacity building within organizations to help drive and sustain that development.

Dr Leon said he believed the communication sector had a critical role to play in the region’s development journey.

“This sector must own the responsibility of being integral to the development objectives and agenda of our region and align its messaging accordingly. Your role should transcend the reporting on events of development,” he said.

“I would argue that it should include the ability to highlight the necessities and explain the implications of events in a manner that can influence change in the psyche of our people,” he added.

In fact, he urged media practitioners to be in the forefront supporting and promoting concepts of economic growth, stability and social cohesion, suggesting there was need for more partnerships between the Fourth Estate, governments and the private sector to help drive the intended development.

Singling out the area of education and youth development, the CDB head said unless urgent action was taken to arrest and reverse the estimated learning loss, “the cumulative impact of this deficit could result in cumulative underachievement and a generation of learners failing to realize their educational potential”.

“I suggest consideration of a partnership with the education sector through which learning can harness the multimodal delivery tools in the communications sector, to broaden reach across cohorts of students and even overcome the estimated 16-month learning loss from COVID-19,” said Leon.

“This type of partnership, for example, can facilitate the replicative teaching of mathematics across several school jurisdictions, using the same best practice pedagogy pioneered by our most gifted mathematics teachers.

“As you are aware, the media plays a critical role in shaping youth ideas and beliefs. As such, you have a huge responsibility to present content that is balanced and purposive, promoting an approach where young people are recognized for their strengths, capabilities and resources,” he added.

Leon also called for gender-based violence to be addressed urgently, pointing out that if not arrested “this problem will continue to cripple our socio-economic conditions and stifle economic growth”.

“Again, the media can be a significant partner for protecting the rights of vulnerable populations. It can provide thought leadership, set the regional policy agenda and influence public perceptions on gender-based violence.

“This translates to raising awareness and informing on the social and economic implications of such issues. It also means creating insights that can educate the public and debunk myths, while shaping positive attitudes and behaviours that can eventually eliminate gender-based violence,” added Leon. (MM)