Curaçao & Sint Maarten - UNDP Trinidad and Tobago

Executive Summary
The Millennium Development Goals, Targets and Indicators: A Localized Approach
This report describes and monitors the MDGs based on Caribbean specific targets and indicators. Initial dialogue on
the set of targets to be used considered the global list of 21 targets and 60 indicators. However, although it would have
been easier to use the global list, especially in view of the fact that it is a first time assessment, it was decided that it
would be better to utilize the Caribbean targets and indicators approved by the CARICOM countries in November
2008 at the Seventeenth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), held in Georgetown,
Guyana6 . The Caribbean’s 25 targets and 91 indicators provide a localized framework that takes the context of the
Caribbean countries into consideration and represents a case of regional adaptation of the global indicators. It
further helps provide a human rights perspective with regard to gender based violence. COHSOD recommended
that the indicators be reviewed with regard to their relevance for the CARICOM Member States, with inclusion of an
indicator on gender based violence, and that the strengthening of data collection systems be given priority. These
systems include the registration of births and deaths and the training and retention of human resources, noted at
the Status Report on the Caribbean Specific MDGs Conference, Thirty-Fourth Meeting of the Standing Committee of
Caribbean Statisticians through resolution SCCS/2009/34/4 in Castries, Saint Lucia in 2009.
The global indicators have undergone three reviews. In 2003 the first set of indicators was readapted, and again in
2005, with the current final set revised in 2008. It is further acknowledged that a first time assessment is bound to
encounter challenges of data availability, relevance and adaptability, which a localized approach can help minimize.
Despite the data challenges that exist, this assessment provides initial evidence that Curaçao and Sint Maarten are
progressing satisfactorily on three out of the 8 goals, particularly Goals 2, 4, and 5, especially when compared with
other countries in the Caribbean region. Moreover, they are on track to achieving the other targets under Goal 3
and 8 with directed innovative interventions by 2015. Goals 1, 6, and 7 pose challenges for which appropriate timely
policy approaches in environment, energy, technology and governance practices are important. For Goal 1, island
level disparities and inequalities across the main economic sector of tourism, trade and industry should be further
analyzed. Gender biases in productive employment of women and young people and the global financial crisis are
threatening the main socio-economic and environmental pillars. Issues under Goal 6 are consistent with the trends
of globalization with increasing immigration into the islands, insufficient education on preventative measures of
HIV/AIDS and sensitivities surrounding the issue of homosexuality. The effect of the financial crisis is evident in
declining household income and increasing inflation resulting in higher cost of living. Inadequate government
response to safeguard critical sectors and to protect the vulnerable could eventually lead to potential deterioration
in the quality and delivery of key social services in health and education.
It will be important to explore South- south cooperation for exchanges and learning from key Latin American and
Caribbean countries performing well in these targets, especially those related to fuels, possible policy instruments
in taxes, subsidies and specific funds. For example, fuel related costs subsidies are applied to direct fuel costs in
Ecuador and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, representing more than 3% of GDP. Another alternative is to
indirectly subsidize the use of transport as done by many countries in the region. Chile provides the Petroleum
Prize Stabilization Fund that incorporates a mechanism to determine the percentage of the rise in imported crude
prices that maybe passed through to final consumers of petroleum products. In the case of foods, economic policy
offers a broad range of alternatives for intervention including administrative measures in the use of fiscal or trade
policy tools. Such administrative tools used for bilateral trade agreements for importing foods or grains between
Argentina and Bolivia, (World Bank, FAO, 2008a and b) and agreements and price controls in certain food markets as
in Argentina. More examples can be found in the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2007-2008.
Knowledge and documentation of such experiences will be critical in designing strategic policies geared towards
addressing these issues more holistically.
6 The development of Caribbean specific targets and indicators resulted from a decision of the Twelfth Meeting of the COHSOD in April
2005 which considered the status of implementation of the MDGs and endorsed “the view that the MDGs should be seen as an integrated
framework and not as a set of individual goals.”
26 First National Report | Curaçao and Sint Maarten Millennium Development Goals | 2011 Report