I welcome you to this session of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) which is focussing on Education, one of the foundations of our Community’s future.
The World Bank’s 2018 World Development Report submits that education delivers consistent returns, including in terms of income, as globally, there is a 9% increase in hourly earnings for one extra year of schooling. Thus, strategic investments in people is critical to poverty reduction, economic growth, and social transformation.
Human Resource Development must be one of the main engines for regional growth and development.
It was one of the driving forces that moved our Heads of Government to call for and approve the CARICOM Human Resource Development 2030 Strategy. The Strategy provides a roadmap for converged action by CARICOM Member States in the fields of education and training with the intent of “Unlocking Caribbean Human Potential”.
At the heart of this Strategy is the prioritisation of the construction, by 2030, of a globally competitive, innovative, and seamlessly integrated education system to drive inclusive sustainable development in the Region.
The key now is taking action to realise the vision of the HRD 2030 Strategy. This Thirty-Eighth Meeting of the COHSOD is then aptly themed ‘Moving From Vision To Action.’ The issues to be discussed illustrate, in concrete terms, the actions needed at the level of Member States, the CARICOM Secretariat and by some of our regional institutions, if the aspirations for Caribbean human potential are to be realised.
Over the next two days, this Council is asked to…
