AUDIO INCLUDED IN THIS STORY: The Prime Minister of St.Maarten Mrs.Sarah Wescott-Williams and UNDP Representative Dr.Marcia de Castro, signed a letter of intent on July 7th for national development project.
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UNDP AND ST.MAARTEN’S SIGNED LETTER OF INTENT
Statement by Dr. Marcia de Castro,
UNDP Resident Representative for Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten to the members of the Sint Maarten Council,
Sint Maarten 07 July 2011
Salutations,
Honorable Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams
Honorable Ministers, distingushed government officials,
Good morning
It is my honor to join you this morning and address you the Council of Ministers
First, let me congratulate Prime Minister Wescot Williams with her appointment as Prime Minister of the new country Sint Maarten on 10-10-10 and to congratulate the members of the Council for your collective leadership to charter a new future and vision for Sint Maarten and its rightful role in the Dutch Kingdom, in the Caribbean region and beyond. UNDP is particularly delighted to be able to partner with you and with the people of Sint Maarten in this historic journey.
UNDP’s collaboration with the Netherlands Antilles started over 25 years ago.
In 2009 we signed the last development cooperation project agreement with the former government of the Netherlands Antilles. The project supported the transition process to new country status for Sint Maarten and Curacao and produced the first Millennium Development Goals Report for the two new countries. The report, launched earlier this year, is a very important contribution from Sint Maarten to a global commitment to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and for the ongoing inter-governmental conversations on the emerging development challenges affecting the world today, and specifically small island developing states (SIDS) to deal with growing complex crises that affect us all, the global financial crisis, the food crisis and the climate change and environmental challenges and their impact on sustainable human development.
The project also assisted with capacity building to strengthen collection, analysis, and dissemination of important social and economic data. One significant outcome of this collaboration is a decision by the new government to continue the relationship with UNDP through a new cooperation agreement. Yesterday I met with Prime Minister Wescot Williams and was briefed of your deliberations in the Council to endorse a new cooperation agreement between Sint Maarten and UNDP.
The new project has three main objectives:
1. Support your efforts to Develop strategies for nation building and national development through a participative approach;
2. Chart a new long term human centered and sustainable development strategy for Sint Maarten that includes achieving and surpassing the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s);
3. And put in place an effective system to collect, analyse and disseminate social and economic statistics and data to measure and benchmark Sint Maartens social-economic development.
Yesterday I went on a field visit to see some of the infrastructure and social development efforts being undertaken by your government. As a development practitioner, these visits afforded me an opportunity to see parts of Sint Maarten that most tourists who come to the island do not know of and will not visit. I saw the new sewage treatment plan in Dutch Quarter. We visited the communities of Middle Region and Union Farm and some of the housing projects in Belvedere, and Hope Estate and the land fill in site and housing project in Pond Island.
I am encouraged by what I saw and convinced that this new partnership between UNDP and Sint Maarten supported by your vision and leadership can make a difference to the lives of the people living in Phillipsburg, Union Farm, as well as in Belair or Guanabay.
What We Do
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.
Our Goals
We are on the ground in 176 countries and territories, working with governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners that can bring about results. Our ultimate mission is to work with you to empower the lives of all Sint Maartens and to make this country, your country more resilient and strong.
UNDP has a long and successful experience supporting multi-stake holder dialogue processes to support nation building exercises, long term visioning exercises, with a aim to strengthen good democratic governance in the countries we serve.
Here in our own region UNDP has partnered with the governments of and public, private and civil society actors in Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras to name a few to address a range of issues from constitutional reform, preparation of national budgets, mediation and conflict resolution, support to electoral processes, assist with the negotiations of the take over of the Panama Canal and a whole range of issues identified by key actors in these societies to continue to build national resilience and people empowerment.
This is my first visit to Sint Maarten. Before I came I had the opportunity to speak with the Prime Minister on the phone and yesterday we had a long conversation. Prime Minister, I am very moved by your vision and resolve to embark in a dialogue process and bring together representatives of government, the opposition, civil society, private sector, policy makers to discuss and agree on the future of this beautiful country. As we discussed yesterday, projects such as this one are forward looking and if done well and with the right level of political and personal commitment of key players can be tremendously successful.
Our experience shows that successful visioning exercises share a few elements in common.
· The key players all share a common aspiration to bring long term sustainable development to the communities they serve and work in.
· Political commitment is needed at the highest levels of government to get it done and get it right. Here is where you can make a difference.
· While different actors in the conversation may have different wishes, priorities and political perspectives, they are prepared to talk about them and agree on priorities and trade offs. Furthermore, they are committed to putting in the time and the effort that it takes to get it right and to do their part to achieve results
· The process is led by the stake holders, not by the UN. Our role is to support you to achieve your vision and to fulfill your goals, we cannot do it for you
· The management of the process/project is clearly defined and while the project may sit in one Ministry, all ministries and representatives of society can and must get involved.
· Not everybody can be involved at all times. Processes like the one we are now talking about require effective communications strategy and campaign that communicate to the people of this country what this is all about and how we will all get there. Putting in place a successful public advocacy campaign to show to the public what the government is committed to do and what is in for them. Effective public advocacy to show results is also good political practice and can bring votes in future elections.
· And finally, that ask we go along, we will monitor progress, take stock of the efforts, evaluate impact, learn lessons and adjust the process as needed.
· We in UNDP place great importance to learn from our joint partnerships. In this regard, the MDG project is currently being evaluated and the evaluator will visit Sint Maarten next week to meet with key stake holders and gather from you your views and experience with the project. I personally ask you to devote some time to meet wit the evaluator and tell us your views of the project
Honorable Prime Minister, members of the Council,
Let me assure you that we in UNDP are committed to this new partnership with the people and the government of Sint Maarten to chart and implement a new vision and development agenda for this country. I have heard your goals and aspirations and I have seen some of the conditions on the ground. We look forward to working together and to being part of this great enterprise and to improving the lives and reliance of this country.