Curaçao & Sint Maarten - UNDP Trinidad and Tobago

Participants and trainers at the MDG sensitization workshop, UTS Resource Centre, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, June 8, 2010.
A Worthwhile Partnership Between The Government and the UNDP
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in partnership with the former Department for Development
Cooperation (DEVCO) in the former Netherlands Antilles commenced a capacity development arrangement in
2009. One focus area was sensitization on the MDGs with the intention to prepare a national diagnostic report
that documents and presents a snapshot of the situation of the MDG progress in the former Netherlands Antilles,
serving as a baseline for future policy planning, updating and monitoring until 2015. Since the federation of the
Netherlands Antilles was dismantled on 10th October 2010, the report will only describe the situation in Curaçao and
in Sint Maarten. The first report for Curaçao and Sint Maarten, aims to serve as a campaign tool for advocacy and
consensus building. The world has spent a decade planning, piloting, evaluating and reporting on the MDGs. The
next five years will provide an opportunity for the new countries Curaçao and Sint Maarten to adopt the MDGs as a
catalyst for collective action. In the recently completed report ‘A synthesis of country evidence’ 2010 , a UNDP global
assessment of MDG progress shows that the MDGs can be achieved, even in the poorest and the most disadvantaged
countries when the political will is complemented by innovative strong political leadership, effective policies and
institutional capacity for scaling up public investments. These need to be complemented by adequate financial and
technical support and an enabling policy environment from the international community. Evidence also shows
there are important synergies among the MDGs —acceleration in one Goal often speeds up progress in others.
Investing in women’s empowerment, education, employment-intensive growth, agricultural innovation, energy,
environmental sustainability and health can also have significant multiplier effects across the MDGs. Approaching
the MDGs from a human rights perspective and good governance provides a common cause where the duty bearer,
namely the state and the claim holders, the citizens, can equally participate together in nation building.
36 First National Report | Curaçao and Sint Maarten Millennium Development Goals | 2011 Report