Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 26, 2016 (SKNIS): A workshop is currently being held from April 26-28 for the stakeholders of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Commerce on the topic “Managing for Development Results” and its importance to micro, small and medium enterprises.
The session is geared towards other business support organizations besides the National Entrepreneurship Division (NED) “since all involved plays a role in the growth and development of the micro, small and medium enterprise sector,” said Phillip Browne, Director of NED. He added that both entities “should all remain current on global development that would impact our success or lack thereof in this regard.”
Mr. Browne highlighted the importance of the three day workshop and the overall contribution it has on developing countries and its people.
“We are all aware that micro, small and medium enterprises are vital to the economic growth and development of our country despite the fact that most of our local businesses are in fact micro, small and medium enterprises, they are key employment generators,” said the Director. “Therefore we must work collaboratively to ensure that a supportive and enabling entrepreneurship environment is created and sustained.”
He added that now more than ever development agencies have been focusing on results to ensure that their support contributes to improving the lives of people in developing countries while ensuring that resources are adequately located and that all stakeholders have a clear understanding through transparent results.
He added that developing countries and recipients of donor funds are being urged “to utilize a results based approach to development projects and to exploit findings and results from these projects in a manner that will steer them in the direction of better policy decisions and strategy designs.”
He also encouraged the stakeholders present to approach their findings in a gender sensitive manner.
Jasmine Warner-Weeks, Director of Trade Research, stated that “the enhanced scrutiny of development aid concerns and the global push by donor agencies and countries for evaluating the effectiveness of assistant programmes warrants that this workshop is not only necessary but timely.”
“The venture also highlights the government’s and the Caribbean Development Bank’s commitment to transition into an approach by which projects and programmes are designed and implemented in a way that allow for stakeholders to ensure that development aid is more effective.”
She stated that the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness seeks to accomplish this through five main principles including ownership, alignment, harmonization, results and mutual accountability.