February 21, 2024, CCCCC Press Release 002
(Kingston, Jamaica) The United Kingdom and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre have launched the Small Island Developing States Capacity and Resilience (SIDAR) Programme for the Caribbean. The launch event was held in Jamaica on Tuesday 20th February 2024.
This launch follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the UK and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) in the amount of £2.7M in September 2023.
The SIDAR programme represents delivery on part of the UK’s overall commitment of £11.6bn for climate finance, with a specific aim to support adaptation and resilience in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The SIDAR Caribbean programme aims to augment access to climate finance and support programmatic acceleration of climate resilient actions in selected Caribbean countries. The UK’s support to the CCCCC will help Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to address the challenges they face in accessing climate finance.
Through the CCCCC, the programme will help address the barriers that Caribbean SIDS face in planning for, accessing, and effectively utilizing climate finance. The programme aims to facilitate a sustainable increase in the flow of climate finance, enhance project development and implementation capabilities, and support simplification of the multilateral funding processes with which they must engage.
The target countries set to benefit from the programme are Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Suriname.
British High Commissioner to Jamaica, Her Excellency Judith Slater expressed optimism about the programme:
“This programme is only one of the ways in which the UK continues to demonstrate its commitment to Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The launch of this initiative under the SIDAR programme marks an important moment in our collective efforts to combat the impacts of climate change. Through this partnership, and possibly others to come, we will help to tackle some of those technical issues which get in the way of faster and reliable access to climate finance and stymie the delivery of climate projects. Through close collaboration with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), the UK is delivering on its promise to help unlock greater amounts of climate finance, strengthen resilience, and secure a sustainable future for SIDS, including those in the Caribbean.”
Addressing those is attendance, Executive Director for Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Colin A. Young, Ph.D., also emphasized the significance of the programme, stating “The CCCCC is pleased to partner with the UK to implement the SIDAR program in Caribbean that will increase both the flow and scale of climate finance to CARICOM Member States as well as strengthen their capacity to effectively utilize these resources. We are especially excited that through SIDAR, the CCCCC will embed 7 project developers and 7 project officers in 7 Member States who will directly work with them to mobilize climate finance to build climate resilience. This is a historic achievement! The CCCCC expresses its gratitude to the UK for tangibly assisting the region to improve access, absorption and delivery of climate finance.”
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation (with responsibility for climate change), Senator The Honourable Matthew Samuda, welcomed the programme and expressed gratitude to the partners involved.
The CCCCC, in partnership with Member States, will develop funding proposals that are aligned to national priorities for submission to various financial mechanisms under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other multilateral and bilateral financing partners. This concerted effort by the UK is expected to help the Caribbean access up to US$50 million for the region over the next three years.
Subsequent to the launch of the programme, a two-day workshop is being held with the primary aim of enhancing the capacity and expertise of representatives from Member States. Attendees will benefit from training that places specialized emphasis on honing regional procurement strategies, improving project implementation techniques, and navigating issues pertaining to leadership and conflicts of interest. Moreover, the training aims to raise awareness among stakeholders regarding diverse financing mechanisms, procedures for accessing climate finance from multiple sources, and engaging in carbon markets and other related markets.
The collaborative and strategic interventions in the programme are designed to lead to sustainable change and foster a climate-resilient future for target CARICOM Member States.
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The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre is an inter-governmental Caribbean Community (CARICOM) institution that is mandated by the CARICOM Heads of Government to coordinate the Region’s response to climate change. We maintain the Caribbean’s most extensive repository of information and data on climate change specific to the region, which in part enables us to provide climate change-related policy advice and guidelines to CARICOM Member States. In this role, the Centre is recognized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Environment Programme, and other international agencies as the focal point for climate change issues in the Caribbean. The Centre is also one of the few institutions recognized as a Centre of Excellence by United Nations Institute for Training and Research. CCCCC is empowering the Caribbean Community to act on climate change.
