Remarks, Dr. Kishan Khoday, UNDP Resident Representative 
Resilient Series #3: Hurricane-Ready and Resilient Forum on Loss and Damage for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
Tuesday, 10 June 2025 | UNDP Large Conference Room 
(Livestreaming on UNDP and JIS YouTube and Facebook channels)

Salutations

• Marsha Henry-Martin, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Community Development
  Harold Davis, CEO, Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) 
  Samantha Rolle, Executive Director, Small Business Development Corporation of The Bahamas (SBDC)
  Garnett Reid, President, Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ)
  Dahlia Dwyer Hodelin, Principal Director, MSME, Industry, Emerging Sector and ISO
  Marina Young, Principal Director, Technical Services, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA)
  Patrick Watson, Senior Director, Hazard Mitigation & Risk Management, Ministry of Local Government and Community Development
  Michelle Edwards, Deputy Director-General, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)  
  Dwayne Haynes, JP, Senior Director (Interim) MSME Division, Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce 
  Rochelle Graham-Barnes, Acting Director, National Shelter, Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports
  UNDP staff, members of the media, other distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Good morning and welcome to UNDP’s Hurricane-Ready and Resilient Forum on Loss and Damage for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). We consider this a timely conversation for a vital part of the private sector that powers significant segments of our economies in the Caribbean, employs many of our people and connects us to the goods and services we rely on.  

UNDP is proud to have been a partner in the global Santiago Network on Loss and Damage and the emergence of the Secretariat of the new global Loss and Damage Fund. In addition to our expanding work on climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction, UNDP also prioritizes support to countries on the loss and damage agenda, and in that regard, we are now Open for Business in terms of discussing possible new L&D projects in Jamaica, Bahamas and elsewhere in the sub-region. 

Estimates show that from 1980-2020, loss and damage as a percentage of GDP were the highest in the Caribbean SIDS, at an average of 2.5 percent compared to 2 percent for the Pacific SIDS, 0.2 percent for the rest of Latin America, and 0.1 percent for Africa. Looking ahead, climate damages alone are forecast to increase in the Caribbean from 5 percent of GDP in 2025, to 20 percent by 2100 representing $22 billion of annual losses. This has implications for key sectors in SIDS economies, such as tourism and agriculture, the former of which could see GDP reduced by 38-47 percent by 2100. A particular concern are the impacts to emerge for high-risk communities, and MSMEs which are at the base of key sectors and community livelihoods.  

This vulnerability became more evident with the passage of hurricane Beryl in 2024, especially among MSMEs. They constitute 97% of all enterprises in Jamaica, and 98 percent of all enterprises in The Bahamas. They contribute 28 percent to Jamaica’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide 80% of jobs; These enterprises employ 47 percent of the workforce in the Bahamas and contribute anywhere between 20% to 30% of GDP. 

Micro enterprises, in particular, are tiny, mighty but largely informal. Yet, the power of MSMEs is easily felled by a hurricane. MSMEs are disproportionately vulnerable to hurricane impacts because of their informality especially in the micro enterprise sector; size, limited resources, inadequate access to financing, insurance and disaster preparedness resources. MSME operated by women and persons with disabilities contend with added layers of vulnerabilities traced to gender norms, and stereotypes, family responsibilities and inadequate access to capital. There are also nuanced requirements related specifically to the needs of women and persons with disabilities that tend to be overlooked. 

MSMEs are simply put, too significant to national economic wellbeing to fail or to sustain lengthy closures after a disaster. We must redouble efforts to secure their disaster resilience and accelerated recovery. 

UNDP’s 2021 Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 Pandemic on MSMEs in The Bahamas for example showed us 63 percent of MSMEs were affected with more than 55 percent permanently closing in Abaco and 11 per cent in Grand Bahama. 

We need comprehensive disaster preparedness plans tailored for MSMEs and allocation of resources to enhance their resilience and disaster recovery capabilities. And, by enhancing financial support mechanisms for disaster-impacted MSMEs, including possibly via the new L&D Fund, we can expand relief beyond grants to accessible insurance schemes and public private partnerships. 

Disaster Risk Resilience and Recovery remains a cornerstone of UNDP’s offer and over the years we have allocated USD 100 million annually to these efforts. This is coupled with our ongoing portfolio of over USD 4 billion of grants for climate action in over 140 countries. Through UNDPs current Country Programme in Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman and TCI, support for climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and recovery interventions is a centre piece. Most recently in Jamaica, following last year’s hurricane Beryl, UNDP’s support for the livelihoods recovery of 54 enterprises led by women and persons with disabilities included grants for restoration of small businesses as well as gender sensitive climate-smart DRR training. 

Over the years we have extended similar support to impacted MSMEs in The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. Our post hurricane Dorian package of interventions in The Bahamas, bolstered by a UNDP grant allocation supported Resilient Recovery regulatory frameworks and strategies approved by Cabinet; Housing Building and Damage Assessments of more than 4000 structures, Marine Debris studies and cleanups, and cash for work programmes targeting the poorest and most impacted residents. We also support a climate resilient multipurpose shelter on Abaco in The Bahamas capable of withstanding 200 mile per hour winds. Supported by the Government of India and UNDP, this will stand as a model lesson in infrastructural resilience.

I want to commend the Governments of Jamaica and The Bahamas for their leadership and dynamism in developing and sustaining fit for purpose national disaster management governance arrangements, and no less our partners in Cayman, Bermuda and TCI for their examples of being resilient to increasingly severe hurricanes in recent years. Your example models the kind of leadership that is critical for shaping resilient economies, and we look to your leadership in further strengthening support for MSME resilience and recovery.

To further advance our support, UNDP, UNDRR, UNICEF and WFP, with the invaluable support of the EU, will soon launch a new DRR programme for the Caribbean, with important region-wide results in focus as well as dedicated country grants of up to $500,000 for example in Jamaica aimed at capacity development to scale up policy, institutional and financing mechanisms for resilience recovery. Options for embracing loss and damage finance can be a key outcome. 

As Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean you are well positioned and qualified to model a resilient future where no one is left behind, one that embraces new financing options, technology and governance solutions. It is clear that resilience must become our first line of defence against unpredictable weather patterns and the means by which we accelerate recovery from loss and damage. Thank You.