Overview                                                      

Having gained independence from Britain on 7 February, 1974, Grenada known as the ‘Spice Isle, is a parliamentary representative democracy, with the Prime Minister as head of Government. The country, home to 112,523 people, is a sovereign state located in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of Grenada, Carriacou, Petite Martinique and several smaller, uninhabited islands.

Main Initiatives                                            

UNDP has a dedicated space in St George’s, the capital city, provided by the Government of Grenada with two members of staff.

The Climate-Resilient Agriculture for Integrated Landscape Management project works to operationalise integrated agroecosystem management through mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in the production landscape and increasing the resilience of the agricultural system to emerge stronger from the pandemic. Launched in late 2020 the activities under this project will contribute to the attainment of national development priorities and SDGs. Implementing technologies that support climate-resilient agriculture will be a key aspect of the initiative, with participation from public and private sectors, academia and civil society. In 2021, UNDP supported the Implementing partner to launch a digital agriculture challenge to provide small grants towards the digital transformation of the sector to facilitate developmental leapfrogging and resilience building. Up to 10 small agro-processors will be supported for projects such as IoT monitored smart farms, digital traceability of the supply chain, digital marketing, etc, covering nutmeg, cocoa, poultry, and apiary production.

In the context of the Climate Promise, UNDP has offered support to revise Grenada’s Nationally Determined Contributions and assist with the implementation of one select intervention such as the replacement of public lighting with LED bulbs.

As part of a phased approach towards sustainable waste management, environmental protection and health, UNDP is supporting national efforts for the implementation of the Non-biodegradable Waste Control Act through education and awareness initiatives, including the creation of informational posters, flyers and videos as well as the provision of reusable canvas bags as an alternative to plastic. Discussions with relevant ministries on the establishment of a Technical Assistance and Investment Facility to boost public and private investment flows into blue economy key sectors are also currently ongoing.

Grenada is also an important flagship country of the CariSECURE and the digitizing of data collection and analysis by the police.

Grenada also presently benefits from two UN joint programmes:

1.      Building Effective Resilience for Human Security in the Caribbean Countries: The Imperative of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in a Strengthened Agriculture (and related Agri/Fisheries Small Business) Sector which seeks to enhance human security by advancing comprehensive and gender-responsive development with a focus on key economic sectors in the Caribbean, including farming, fishing, agri-fisheries and related small business activities (UNDP, UN Women, FAO, ILO); and

2.      The SDG Fund supported Harnessing Blue Economy Finance for SIDS Recovery and Sustainable Development (UNDP, UNEP, FAO), where UNDP as the lead is supporting the development of national integrated finance frameworks for financing the blue economy.

UNDP also supported the COVID-19 response in Grenada, partnering with the Government in the production of a Human and Economic Assessment of Impact report, with the collaboration of UNICEF and UN Women. The relief package of UNDP includes MSME support through “eFUTURE” and assistance to the government in its transition to online learning through the procurement of 3,600 laptops and 112 changing stations to facilitate the administering of the CPEA and CSEC online exams.

Additionally, UNDP is technically and financially supporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) within ten countries and territories that are directly or indirectly linked to the tourism sector or have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, through the Future Tourism project.   With gender equality and empowerment of women at its core, the project seeks to promote economic diversification, job creation and resilience with the “Blue Economy for Green Islands” approach in the tourism sector thereby boosting recovery and supporting the digitally enabled transformation of the business processes and value chains of MSMEs.

UNDP is leading two pillars of the Grenada Spotlight Initiative, which supports a comprehensive national programme to contribute to the end of family violence and all forms of violence against women and girls in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The programme is comprised of six outcome areas of which UNDP leads the implementation of Outcomes 2 (strengthening institutions) and 5 (Data), with UN Women, UNICEF and PAHO leading the implementation of others. UNDP supported mainstreaming gender and violence against women considerations within the Ministry of Social Development and across sectors providing support to violence against women victims/survivors. This is through training and capacity building workshops as well as communications and advocacy work. UNDP has been supporting the Central Statistical Office by improving its data collection capacity. This was done through procuring software and hardware equipment as well as capacity building training. Currently, the design of a Data System to capture data on violence against women has been finalized and is expected to be launched in Phase II of the programme (to start in June 2022). Also, under the Spotlight Initiative, UNDP supported the Government of Grenada with obtaining PPEs by providing masks, face shields and gowns to be used by GBV practitioners.

In late 2020 UNDP supported the Government of Grenada to conduct a rapid assessment of the country's readiness to become a Small Smart State (SSS), drawing upon UNDP's Digital Readiness Assessment tool and stakeholder consultations. Among the primary recommendations of this report was to build capacity for the Innovation ecosystem and tap into the Diaspora community.  As a follow up we have leveraged support from the Fut-Tourism project to fund a consultancy to advise the government and develop partnerships for a Grenada Innovation Hub, with the final report expected by end of May 2022.

Grenada is also a beneficiary of the regional EnGenDER project and benefits from training in gender mainstreaming in climate action plans and the development of these sector-level action plans.  The major objective of the project in-country is to improve national capacity for gender-responsive climate change planning to also improve integrated recovery planning and frameworks

The Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) has been operational in Grenada since 1994 and works to strengthen national capacities, by providing financial and technical support to projects that conserve and restore the environment, while enhancing people's wellbeing and livelihoods. The programme has assisted the women of Petite Martinique with the implementation of an aquaponics system in a solar-powered greenhouse, to help reduce the reliance on imports and provide a healthy source of fresh available food on the arid island, year-round.

For more information on Grenada, please view the Human Development Report Briefing Note for this country.

Did you know?
Grenada is the home of the world’s first underwater sculpture park!