Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

It’s a pleasure to be here for this important event organized by The Bahamas Development Bank and the IDB.

We are so happy to host this third annual meeting of the Evaluation Development Network here in The Bahamas.

For those joining us in person, I trust the warm embrace of our culture has already made you feel at home. And for those tuning in virtually, don’t worry: there’s still time for you to make it here for tomorrow’s session.

But even if you can’t make it here in person, we are glad to welcome you from so many miles away.

It is significant, ladies and gentlemen, that we have gathered here today to discuss the merits of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in guaranteeing better developmental outcomes.

As we face the biggest economic and social challenges within our region, as we seek to embrace technological innovation and digitalisation, and as we seek to overcome the existential threat of climate change, the stakes have never been higher.

The need for successful, sustainable national development has never been greater.

As Caribbean and Latin American nations, we have seen many successes but we also have our share of vulnerabilities and areas of needed improvement within our developmental models.

For example, while the English-speaking Caribbean has an enduring history of stable, democratic rule, our small size and under-diversified economies have given rise to unique vulnerabilities.

What happens beyond our islands has a big impact on what happens within. External events, especially those on a global scale, can have a huge impact on our nations.

We saw this with the 2008 financial crisis. Due to high reliance on the US for trade, foreign direct investment, and tourism, The Bahamas and many other anglophone Caribbean nations experienced contracted growth.

That was almost two decades ago, and yet it still seems that when certain countries sneeze, our economies end up in the hospital. With COVID-19, this is literally what happened.

Sustained economic growth for the Caribbean and Latin America will depend on our ability to successfully manoeuvre the levers of national development in unprecedented ways.

To ensure that we are improving collectively, we must begin coming together, as we are doing today, and we must begin learning from one another and forging new pathways to work collaboratively toward our mutual goals.

This must apply, not just to our immediate neighbours, but throughout our region and the world.

There is a lot we have to offer one another.

On my visit to Botswana in March, I had the privilege of meeting with President Masisi to strengthen bilateral ties.

A few months later, my government partnered with the Afreximbank to host its 2024 annual meeting, as well as the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum, in Nassau, our capital.

Most recently, I attended the 9th ALM Africa Summit in London, where I stressed that Africa and the Caribbean have much in common, and much to gain from greater cooperation.

The same is true, my friends, for Latin America and the Caribbean.

We stand to gain so much by comparing policy visions, sharing implementation success stories, and harmonising development efforts across our diverse industries and territories.

Collaboration and information sharing will be imperative if our region is to enhance its strategic flexibility, not least in this unpredictable era of climate-driven disasters.

But as we talk about the need for improvement, we must, first of all, be able to recognise it when it happens.

There is an old adage that is often used in relation to monitoring and evaluation:

“You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”

We can all benefit from improved M&E frameworks – not just to measure outcomes related to our national development projects, but also to measure the successful implementation of the projects themselves.

It is through looking at the results that we will know how we measure up against the problems we are tackling, and also learn what approaches work and where we stand to see improvements with future initiatives.

We have enormous challenges ahead of us. With climate change, we have arguably the biggest challenge ever faced by this modern world.

And just because we are so focused on climate change, our other longstanding problems as developing nations don’t simply go away.

Taking it all on requires effectiveness and efficiency in execution that can only be achieved and verified with the adoption of best practices in M&E.

Rigorous M&E will be key in guaranteeing value for money, accountability, and continuous learning in development projects.

We have similar challenges, so let us look for common solutions.

Rather than toil as siloed states, let us take this occasion to share best practices, strengthen bonds, and develop strategies to safeguard our shared future.

We have some of the best and brightest M&E minds in the region here with us today. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity to ensure that we are strengthening our approaches to sustainable national development and working together for the good of the region.

Thank you, and may you all enjoy a fruitful conference.

The post Prime Minister Philip Davis’s Remarks at the IDB ReDeCA Evaluation Development Network appeared first on ZNS BAHAMAS.