Six months after Hurricane Melissa’s destructive landfall, hundreds of Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) are recovering their livelihoods and markets, while thousands of community residents are benefitting from restoration of commerce and paid debris clearance programmes, under the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Jamaica Resilient Recovery Initiative (JARRI).

Fishers are reporting a significant reduction in post-harvest losses following installation of solar-powered container hubs at Galleon Beach and Parottee and a solar installation at Rio Nuevo. Delivering the latest updates, UNDP Officer in Charge, Assistant Resident Representative Lesley Ann Ennevor said the first set of clean energy hubs is impacting more than 300 fishers and their families, indirectly benefiting 6500 persons from immediate and surrounding communities.

By reliably powering cold storage, internet and charging stations, the solar hubs have helped fishers avoid distress sales and secure better prices, contributing to income stabilization and cost savings, she said.  

“Our partnership with the National Fisheries Authority of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining and local fishers, is strengthening fisher resilience and by extension food security, by providing a reliable, community-managed energy and storage solution that eliminates the need for diesel-powered refrigeration. UNDP is actively mobilizing to scale up this model clean energy solution to other fishing villages to help many more fishers withstand future shocks,” she stated.

UNDP is also partnering with the Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers, Bureau of Gender Affairs and the Jamaica 4H to recover the livelihoods of 125 SMEs from impacted communities, Ennevor said. Support for reconstruction and produc-tive inputs such as – feed, fertilizer, goods, equipment and other essentials – is help-ing restore critical goods and services to impacted communities she reported. One cohort of the SME outreach prioritizes enterprises run by women and persons with disabilities. “Beyond the provision of resilient inputs, UNDP and partners are also set to build SME capacity for business continuity and resilience through crisis,” she disclosed.

Ennevor says JARRI’s debris management programme has already cleared 890 tonnes of debris from two communities, benefiting 18 000 persons in Westmoreland, with six additional hurricane-impacted communities to go. “Cleared in cooperation with residents under UNDP’s signature Cash for Work programme, dozens of residents who lost income in the wake of the hurricane can now address their immediate financial needs. Additionally, recycling is being included in select communities for the remainder of the debris programme”, she reported.

Under its community component, JARRI aims to jumpstart the engine of community life, livelihoods and commerce, giving priority to SMEs in communities and key productive sectors. These include fishers, farmers, tourism operators, retail shops and services, with some resources allocated to recovery of enterprises run by women and persons with disabilities.

Under other components, UNDP is supporting Government develop a Master Spatial Plan for Black River to help reduce exposure to future hurricanes, flooding, and storm surge. Also, UNDP and partners will soon roll out recovery interventions for wetlands and forests, and innovative Technical Assistance Centres offering nuts and bolts guidance on fixing and building to resilient code, Ennevor revealed.

Hurricane Melissa, the strongest-ever climate induced disaster to impact Jamaica in its modern history, made landfall six months ago on 28 October 2025. Melissa caused the death of 45 persons, catastrophic loss of livelihoods; damaged infrastructure and economic sectors and generated 4.8 million tonnes of debris.  

UNDP remains the lead for resilient recovery in the United Nations system in Jamaica and globally prioritizes climate and crisis resilience in its programming.