Caribbean Development Bank – Education & Social Development

This event is our annual webinar with experts in Education and Social Development from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), to explore upcoming opportunities and priorities in the education and social development sectors.

The CDB is an important multi-lateral partner for global international development organisations which work across the Caribbean. Its core goal is to reduce inequality and halve extreme poverty in its borrowing member countries by 2025. The bank’s Strategic Plan Update 2022-24 (SPU) identifies the strategic and operational priorities that the Bank will pursue in order to help the region attain its development outcomes, built on five key pillars - social, environmental, production (formerly economic), financial and institutional. This strategic framework marks a pivot towards a new regional vision and puts building resilience at the core of its work.

To open the session, there will be a brief update from the Procurement Policy Unit at CDB, followed by introductory remarks from Shane Nicholls, Country Director Barbados & Eastern Caribbean at DBT.

Following this, CDB colleagues will offer more information on the sub-interests in education which they are focusing on: including Special Educational Needs, English Language Training (ELT), Ed-Tech, Education Infrastructure, Digitalisation, Curriculum Development, Teacher Training, TVET and Skills Development.  

During the second part of the session, CDB colleagues will provide an update on the Bank’s social development work, which is grounded in the imperative to put people first in development processes. CDB’s support to its client countries promotes social development for capacity-building and institutional strengthening to drive poverty reduction as well as to create cohesive, inclusive and resilient societies. Focus is placed on the poor and the most vulnerable groups (including children, women, Indigenous Peoples, young men and women and Persons with Disabilities) - ensuring that they can contribute to and benefit from development progress. 

We will hear from colleagues from CDB’s Social Sector Division team on their priority areas in social development including the Bank’s safeguard policies for addressing social issues in its projects; support for the provision of social and welfare services (social protection); health sector strengthening; citizen security; youth development, and statistical capacity-building.

This event will be of particular interest to members who are looking to gain know-how in doing business with the CDB.