Fourth Medium-Term Growth and Social Protection Strategy (GSPS) 2014 – 2018.

The Commonwealth of Dominica’s fourth medium-term Growth and Social Protection Strategy (GSPS) 2014 – 2018 articulates a broad medium-term strategic framework for sustainable development and economic transformation over the next five years. The priorities outlined in this document are transformative in their approach guided by sound economic and environmental considerations as the main route to poverty reduction. The GSPS is the Government’s overarching framework for macro-economic policies, sector strategies and plans, the structural reform agenda, the annual Public Sector Investment Programmes (PSIP), the annual budgets and social protection and poverty reduction strategies. This fourth edition of the GSPS includes an update of the accomplishments, challenges and lessons learned and creates a revised platform for pivoting the development strategies to respond more directly to the new challenges which arose out of the 2008 global crisis and which continue to dominate the global economic landscape.
This fourth edition of the Growth & Social Protection Strategy reaffirms Government’s strategy for pursuing sustainable development (economic growth, environment development, social development) going forward in a comprehensive and integrated manner, with its three-fold focus on: Sound fiscal policy and administrative reform, including creating an enabling environment for local private investment and the attraction of foreign direct investment; Sectoral strategies for growth; and Strategies for poverty reduction and social protection.
The challenges facing Dominica are those related to attaining high sustained growth in the economy that is pro-poor, which will generate jobs and reduce poverty, and improve the quality of life for Dominicans. Largely, this means creating jobs that will activate the unemployed in the rural areas, where according to the most recent Country Poverty Assessment (CPA 2008/09) poverty is most pronounced. Government acknowledges the importance of gender in social and economic planning. Over the years, a number of initiatives have been advanced by the Government to highlight the benefits of gender equality particularly as policies, programmes and projects have different impacts on men, women and children. The continued empowerment of women while addressing gender disparities across sectors remains an integral part of the Government’s functions. It is well accepted that greater gender equality can help reduce poverty and promote growth. This can happen directly, “by boosting women’s participation in the labour force and increasing both productivity and earnings, and indirectly through the beneficial effects of women’s empowerment on children’s human capital and well-being”. Dominica’s Gender Policy aims to improve quality of life at all levels of society, and to contribute to gender awareness among policy makers, planners, implementers and the general public. It aims to “incorporate a gender perspective in all development planning” in a way that makes for the “gendering” of development planning and policy formulation and implementation, and to establish a system of gender mainstreaming into all sectors of government and society. The Government is also collaborating with the Caribbean Development Bank on finalizing the Country Gender Assessment Report for the Commonwealth of Dominica.