WASHINGTON, DC – The Caribbean region faces a growing youth employment challenge, as outdated infrastructure and limited digital skills continue to constrain economic opportunities and resilience.
For much of the last decade, dependence on legacy copper networks led to high prices, low bandwidth, and widespread coverage gaps. Schools lacked the internet capacity to serve large student populations, and slow speeds eroded the competitiveness of key industries like tourism.
Education systems also rarely emphasized digital competencies as a core outcome. At the same time, emerging IT/IT enabled services (ITES) sectors struggled with underdeveloped broadband infrastructure and a shortage of job-ready talent, limiting the region’s ability to attract investment. Women and young people were particularly affected, with fewer accessible pathways to build digital skills or launch tech-driven enterprises.
The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need for reliable connectivity and market-relevant ICT training to support remote learning, employment, and entrepreneurship – especially in marginalized groups.
World Bank Group (WBG) Approach:
Across the Caribbean, governments recognized that reliable digital infrastructure and relevant ICT skills were crucial to creating jobs and spurring inclusive growth.
With support from the World Bank Group through CARCIP, they pursued a joint procurement model for broadband networks, leveraging public-private partnerships (PPPs) to lower costs and guarantee high-quality, reliable service.
This investment in resilient infrastructure, especially in the disaster-prone islands, ensures that people have long-term and reliable access to digital services. In tandem, they invested in internationally recognized IT/ITES training and certification programs to equip youth and entrepreneurs with hands-on skills aligned with industry needs.
Business incubation support, seed grants, and innovation centers further promoted entrepreneurship and local tech solutions. To develop human capital and ensure that the region’s populations have the digital skills they need to succeed, CARDTP has equipped students and schools with interactive digital tools, provided advanced teacher training, and created digital camps for youth.
The WBG said that the engagement expanded high-speed internet coverage across the Caribbean from 30 per cent in 2012 to over 75 per cent in 2024, connecting over 70,000 people (as of 2021) and counting. In St. Lucia alone, connectivity surpasses 78 per cent, with data costs falling from US$3.50 to US$2.23 per month.
Across these initiatives, over 11,000 people pursued IT/ITES certifications, achieving up to a 65% employment rate among those with technical qualifications. Some graduates saw salary increases of around 19 per cent, collectively contributing to nearly 5,000 new ICT jobs.
Smart classroom upgrades and trainings are being rolled out across the region—for example, St. Lucia now has 20 digital classrooms serving 4,500 students and supported by 35 trained teachers, with vocational streams offering globally recognized digital certificates to learners aged 11–17.
Across the region, women constitute up to 54% of new broadband adopters, expanding economic possibilities for underserved groups. Enhanced connectivity, specialized training, and vocational pathways foster a more diverse talent base and greater social inclusion.
According to the World Bank, several lessons were learned from the initiative.
- By pooling resources and engaging multiple countries, the project achieved better economies of scale, lowering costs and improving service quality. This broader reach—combined with improved infrastructure—can stimulate local businesses and open up new employment avenues.
- Establishing a robust, regionwide broadband infrastructure creates the foundation on which country-wide digital transformation, such as e-government services, digital skills programs, and private sector innovation, can thrive.
- Programmes aligned with local market needs (e.g., IT/ITES, tourism) produced higher job placement rates. Training and providing certifications in line with global standards helped secure jobs for many participants.
- Creating inclusive digital learning experiences has sparked greater engagement in learning and equipped diverse groups with the essential skills needed for future employment.
- Bringing governments, telecom operators, training providers, and educational institutions together expanded broadband access and boosted entrepreneurial ecosystems that create jobs—highlighting the value of structured collaboration for rapid and scalable impact.
- Targeted efforts to reach women and youth—through subsidized training, dedicated incubation, and improved connectivity—ensures broader participation in new digital opportunities, closes skill gaps, improves job creation, and drives inclusive economic growth.
The WBG said that building on successes to date, the ongoing CARDTP continues to expand teacher training and smart classrooms, accelerate modernization of public services—digitizing government operations, enabling secure payments, and improving citizen-centric platforms—while strengthening legislation for cybersecurity, digital identity, and fintech.
It said these measures aim to reduce the digital divide, promote resilient growth, and empower future generations through meaningful employment in the digital era.
