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Developing skills for new technologies in the Caribbean

August 14, 2019 by Adriana Valencia - María Cecilia Acevedo - Fernando Pavón - Verónica Prado Leave a Comment


New technologies and big data are increasing the demand for skills, including digital skills and high-level cognitive skills. Caribbean private sector can influence the types of skills it needs from its workforce and play an active role in increasing productivity and competitiveness in the region – and globally.

Evidence suggests that low skills in the workforce make it difficult for firms to innovate and that significant investments in skills development are needed to reduce the productivity gap (AfDB, ADB, EBRD, and IDB, 2018). In the Caribbean, firms have consistently identified “an inadequately educated workforce” as their most serious obstacle to improving performance, even when unemployment rate in Caribbean stands at 8% (which means that 1.5 million women and men in the region do not receive any income from employment).

Upon statistical analysis of more than 100 countries and 150 variables related to all sectors of the economy, the education sector presented the largest negative development gaps in Caribbean countries. This means that, compared to other economies of similar income per capita, Caribbean nations are the most lagging countries in terms of education, and, in the skill match with the private sector (Acevedo, Borensztein and Lennon, 2019).

This blog was originally published in IDB Invest’s Negocios Sostenibles blog. You can continue reading part 1 here and part 2 here.


Filed Under: Innovation & Change, Labour & Learning

Adriana Valencia

Adriana M. Valencia es oficial de sinergias público-privadas en infraestructura en el Departamento de Estrategia de BID Invest, el brazo de inversión en el sector privado del Grupo Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID). Antes de unirse a BID Invest, Adriana se desempeñó como especialista en energía en la División de Energía del BID. Adriana ingresó al BID en el 2010 y ha participado como miembro de equipo y líder en varias iniciativas, operaciones y gestión de conocimiento. Antes de ingresar al BID, Adriana trabajó en temas de energía sostenible, medio ambiente y cambio climático en el Banco Mundial y en otras entidades a nivel de país, estado y ciudad. Adriana ha publicado y ha sido ponente en varias conferencias. Su formación académica incluye un doctorado y una maestría en ciencias en energía y recursos de la Universidad de California en Berkeley.

María Cecilia Acevedo

María Cecilia Acevedo es economista del Departamento de Estrategia y Efectividad en el Desarrollo de BID Invest en Washington, DC. María Cecilia apoya la elaboración de estrategias de país, en particular al proporcionar análisis técnico a través de la inclusión de la perspectiva del sector privado para América Latina y el Caribe. De nacionalidad colombiana, María Cecilia obtuvo su maestría y doctorado en la Universidad de Harvard, y una maestría en economía de la Universidad de los Andes en Bogotá.

Fernando Pavón

Fernando Pavón is an operations specialist in the Labor Markets Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) based in Mexico City. His focus is on developing programs to support productive sectors in developing and implementing worker training strategies (upskilling & reskilling strategies) for their digital transformation processes. In his role he provides regional support for such issues and development of digital strategy for skills. Previously, he was based in Jamaica, leading the LMK portfolio in the Caribbean designing and implementing projects directly related to industries such as Global Services, Maritime / Logistics, Medical Services and Digital skills, as well as digitizing the Caribbean regional certification framework with the use of Blockchain.

Verónica Prado

Verónica R. Prado se desempeña como especialista en energía en el Sector de Infraestructura y Energía del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo asignado a la Oficina de País de Barbados. Sus principales áreas de trabajo incluyen la eficiencia energética, las energías renovables, la movilidad eléctrica, la reforma regulatoria y el mecanismo innovador de financiación en el sector energético. Verónica se unió al BID en 2013. Antes de su nombramiento actual, se desempeñó como economista de investigación para el Departamento de Economía de la Universidad de Oxford, donde desarrolló e implementó intervenciones en los campos de desarrollo económico, gestión de recursos naturales, infraestructura y energía en África y países del sudeste asiático. Ciudadana brasileña, Verónica posee un doble título en historia y economía de la Universidad Estatal de Montclair, una maestría en ciencias en economía política y una maestría en ciencias en economía del desarrollo de la Universidad de Oxford, Inglaterra.

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Caribbean Dev Trends

We provide unique and timely insights on the Caribbean and its political, social, and economic development. At the IDB, we strive to improve lives in the Caribbean by creating vibrant and resilient economies where people are safe, productive and happy.

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