The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has collaborated with the World Bank to formulate a program with will lead to the digital transformation of the Eastern Caribbean. The ECCB is a strong advocate for a vibrant digital economy within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). To this end a team from the World Bank visited St. Lucia from January 23rd to 24th for a pre-appraisal mission in preparation for the Caribbean Digital Transformation Programme.

The Departments of Finance and the Public Service hosted a technical team from the World bank on a pre-appraisal mission which involved multi-stakeholder consultations in readiness for the implementation of the Caribbean Digital Transformation Programme. The programme aims to strengthen the digital economy in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), support regional collaboration to create common standards, regulations, policies and shared public investments and create economies of scale. It is also expected to ease access to new markets and make the region a more attractive digital investment destination.

The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC), in the Department of Finance, coordinated the stakeholder consultations. The NCPC and the Department of the Public Service will also provide assistance in the finalization of activities under the programme. Executive Director of the NCPC, Fiona Hinkson, outlined the major objectives of the digital transformation programme.

"So there are basically three main components to this programme. You have the digital ecosystem which speaks to telecommunications, cyber-security and financial services. The second component looks at the digital infrastructure. This speaks to how you modernize the government, and so for this project we will be looking at the various gaps in our digital framework. And finally, you have the digital skills and entrepreneurship where we will be up-skilling the population as well as assisting the private sector in adopting new technologies that will assist them in their business processes."

The World Bank Team comprised specialist in Telecommunications, Digital Public Services, Private Sector Development, Entrepreneurship and Skills Development including a Gender specialist to ensure equal access across the genders. Casey Torgusson is the Co team leader and Sr. Digital Development Specialist with the World Bank.

"So we're here to talk about how to grow the digital economy of St. Lucia as a driver of growth, of economic productivity and diversification as a way to improve service delivery to citizens, making sure that people have access to all the information globally that is available on the internet, as well access to digital services and job opportunities that can be available online."

This phase of the Caribbean Digital Transformation Programme covers four countries including Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and St. Lucia. The World Bank team interacted with multiple stakeholders from both the private and public sectors.

"We've had a good opportunity to get a sense of a lot of the unique initiative that are happening across government as well as in the private sector and there seems to be a lot of interest in the digital space both from a service delivery perspective but also from the private sector perspective. I think there is really an untapped potential here in St. Lucia and across the wider region to use technology to reach new markets and create some more dynamism in the economy that may have been missing today."

Implementation of the programme will be at both the country level and regional level. The ECCB is designated as the lead regional agency. Other regional partners include the OECS Commission and Eastern Caribbean Telecommunication Authority (ECTEL) with advisory support from Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU).

The team from the World Bank visited Saint Lucia from Jan. 23 to 24, for the pre-appraisal mission.