Successful Eastern Caribbean partnership concludes after eight years
The project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), ends after more than eight years of international cooperation with local and regional partner organizations in the five Eastern Caribbean Island states of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The more than 13 project partners included the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, a regional guarantee fund, national banks and local training and education centers. Sparkasse zu Lübeck supported the project throughout its entire duration by providing ongoing advice and facilitating various on-site assignments by Sparkassen experts.
The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union consists of a total of eight island states with a total population of around 644,000. One of the biggest challenges in the region is access to financial services for MSMEs, as there is a lack of adapted products and services for them. In addition, there are hurdles such as excessive interest rates or short terms. To overcome these hurdles, the project supported the creation of needs-based, efficient and sustainable access to demand-oriented financial services and entrepreneurial knowledge for MSMEs. In addition, local banks in the island states were strengthened in their ability to offer demand-oriented products and improve their service culture for MSMEs. The networking of all project partners also promoted the exchange of knowledge between the banking and training partners across national borders. In addition, a regional ecosystem was created that supports MSMEs in their important role in local economic development.
Over the entire duration of the project, more than 1,000 participating MSMEs were successfully trained and educated in various training modules on financial and entrepreneurial education. In addition, eight financial institutions were strengthened in the qualification of their staff. This enabled them to improve the quality of their advice for MSMEs and optimize the MSME credit analysis process. At the end of the project term, a special focus was also placed on protecting MSMEs against climate-related losses and damage caused by the climate crisis and adapting to new climate risks. Due to its geographical location, the Eastern Caribbean is exposed to a particularly high risk of increasingly severe extreme weather phenomena, which hampers the local economy and threatens livelihoods. In order to better support the local population in adapting to climate change, the local partner organizations were therefore advised on the climate-related challenges facing MSMEs.
The successful conclusion of the project marks the end of German Sparkassenstiftung's long-standing cooperation in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union for the time being. Other projects in the Caribbean, including those in Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago, will continue to run as planned.