- Calls for strategic private sector partnerships to advance national development priorities
KINGSTON, Jamaica – United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator and UN under secretary-general, Alexander De Croo, has wrapped a two-day mission to Jamaica.
De Croo reaffirmed UNDP’s support for the nation’s hurricane recovery and reconstruction priorities and called for more strategic partnerships with the private sector to help drive full recovery and the broader development agenda.
“Visiting Jamaica as the country continues its recovery from hurricane Melissa, one thing is clear: the resilience is already here, in communities, in people, in the will to rebuild,” De Croo said. “The destruction is still visible, but so is the determination. UNDP stands in full solidarity with that spirit. Our teams are on the ground working alongside national and community partners to stabilise lives and to build the institutional foundations that will matter when the next storm comes.”
The UNDP administrator, on his first official visit to Jamaica since commencing his term in December 2025, was addressing a Private Sector and Sustainable Finance Roundtable on 5 March and reiterated this key message on sustainable financing on 6 March at a Panel Discussion on Small Island Developing States and the Future of Development, attended by academia, youth and development leaders.
At the roundtable attended by senator Aubyn Hill, minister of industry, investment and commerce, top business leaders and members of the diplomatic community, De Croo said private sector partnerships for development worked best within an enabling environment that supported and nurtured private capital for social good. “You definitely need an environment in which the private sector feels at ease to invest,” the senator said.
“While public investments fell globally by one third over the past two years, private capital is increasing, and access to commercially viable leading-edge technology to fast-track development gains and impacts has never been easier,” De Croo said. A world in which private capital works together with public investments to support development priorities needs an entrepreneurial middle class – a key priority supported by UNDP.
“Creating an environment where small entrepreneurs can start, can get access to capital and know that there is legal certainty with reasonable taxes is how you get the economic train rolling,” De Croo said.
The UNDP administrator, who is also managing director of the UNDP-hosted UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), said the UNCDF was committed to this cause, anchored on Guarantee Schemes where a third party—often a government or institution—promises to cover part of a lender’s losses if a borrower defaults. This reduces risks and expands access to small businesses (SMEs) lacking collateral.
“Our view is that development happens by the population of a country, by the leadership of a country, together with the private sector of the country,” De Croo said.
On a visit to the Galleon Beach fishing village in St Elizabeth, De Croo met fishers and community leaders and toured the UNDP-supported solar energy centre. He highlighted the solar installation – one of two donated to date – as an example of how partnerships leveraging technology can help communities become more self-sufficient.
De Croo said off-grid solutions are more crucial than ever to advance energy security and climate action while helping communities like fishers, harvest and trade more at fair prices without spoilage and loss of income.
In a courtesy call with prime minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness and senator minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade Kamina Johnson-Smith, he reaffirmed UNDP’s resilient recovery offer to Jamaica, emphasising support to institutionalising resilience and ramped up investments in community stabilisation efforts. UNDP’s Multi Country Office is currently supporting loss and damage and human impact assessments, national recovery planning, community-level water access and solar energy installations, SMEs for livelihoods recovery, small home and roof repairs and recovery of coastal, forest and watershed ecosystems.
De Croo also participated in strategic dialogues with chief justice Brian Sykes and minister of justice and constitutional affairs, Delory Chuck, centred on UNDPs successful ongoing cooperation supported by Canada on expanding access to justice, enhancing capacities for restorative justice, and digitising court records.
In an official visit with minister of water, environment and climate change, Matthew Samuda, discussions were convened on UNDP’s role in helping Jamaica access the new global Loss and Damage Fund towards water system restoration, mobilising its ongoing portfolio of climate change, energy and biodiversity projects for a resilient recovery goals, and advancing new initiatives on restoration of coral and forest systems.
“The UNDP administrator’s inaugural mission to Jamaica was a historic and timely visit that strengthened UNDP’s partnerships around Vision 2030 priorities like inequality, citizen security, justice, climate action and ecosystem resilience, and Jamaica’s national recovery priorities,” said Dr Kishan Khoday, UNDP Resident Representative. “We listened to a wide number of stakeholders in strategic discussions on emerging challenges and solutions, a foundation now to act and deliver for local impact. As Jamaica’s recovery agenda emerges, UNDP will remain a steadfast partner for a resilient recovery and reconstruction.”
The UNDP Administrator departed Jamaica on 6 March.
De Croo, former prime minister and minister of finance of Belgium, took up his appointment as UNDP Administrator on 2 December 2025 while his swearing-in was 3 February 2026. As Administrator, he leads a worldwide team of more 20,000 personnel across 170 countries and territories and will preside over UNDP’s new global Strategic Plan 2026 to 2029. UNDP stands as the UN’s largest implementer of grant assistance in SIDS globally, with a top priority of its new Strategic Plan (2026-2029) being to further scale up sustainable finance solutions for SIDS through public-private partnerships.
UNDP is the UN’s lead agency on international development with a global mission dedicated to helping countries eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities, and build resilience so people and nations can sustain progress.
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