The government has been awarded US$50,000 (EC$135,000) to improve Montserrat’s digital knowledge and infrastructure.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean committed the cash during a visit to the island this week.
The pledge took place when UNDP resident representative Limya Eltayeb paid a courtesy call from Barbados to the Office of the Premier on 3 April.
She and Premier Joseph E Farrell spoke of priority areas through which Montserrat can access support from the UNDP, according to a government press release.
Eltayeb explained that the UNDP has US$50,000 which could be used to support any of those areas once they aligned to the programme’s portfolio and priorities.
The premier suggested that the money should go to the government’s digital transformation efforts.
The next step is for the UNDP to run a digital readiness assessment of Montserrat to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, and identify areas for improvement.
The funds are expected to be used by the end of this year.
Further support
During this visit, Eltayeb and her colleague Shamar Ward, head of experimentation at the UNDP Accelerator Labs, discussed other areas where the programme could offer support.
These included climate change action, environmental protection, the blue economy, governance, and social protection, justice and inclusion.
They also spoke about innovation through the UNDP Accelerator Labs – the world’s largest and fastest learning network on sustainable development challenges.
The network taps into local innovations to create actionable insights and reimagine sustainable development for the 21st century.
Eltayeb has offered to arrange a mission to Montserrat with a focus on the blue economy and the UNDP Accelerator Labs programme.
UNDP experts will visit Montserrat and provide technical support to the respective ministries leading on these initiatives.
Farrell and Eltayeb committed to continue dialogue on other areas for support and collaboration.
As well as chatting to the premier, the visitors spent the day meeting with other ministers and senior government officials.
