Caribbean recovery programme: Lessons learned

This paper identifies lessons learnt from the response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The paper recommends to improve UNDP multi-country operational response in Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) contexts. During the period September 6-19, 2017, the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the northern and eastern Caribbean were battered by two powerful Category 5 Hurricanes - Irma and Maria. In Dominica, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Barbuda these hurricanes decimated critical infrastructure, housing and livelihoods. These islands fall under the responsibility of the UNDP Sub-re- gional Office for Barbados and the OECS. Other islands such as Sint Maarten and Turks and Caicos were also part of the initial response in the Caribbean. The 2017 response highlighted the logistical and operational complexities of launching a multi-country response and recovery operation in small island contexts where UNDP may not have a substantive presence.

With the information gathered during the interviews, the team facilitating this study has put forward a few key practical recommendations aiming to tackle most of the main challenges experienced. Understanding that substantial operational changes need to start somewhere, implementing just a few of these recommendations would have an extraordinarily positive impact in future UNDP responses in similar contexts.