Climate Action Peer Exchange (CAPE) is a forum for peer learning, knowledge sharing, and mutual advisory support. It brings together ministers and senior technical specialists from finance ministries across the world, as well as World Bank staff and other international experts, to discuss the fiscal challenges involved in implementing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) established under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

St. Lucia and many of its Caribbean neighbors face a growing problem with keeping boys out of trouble. From leaving school, turning to crime, and abusing drugs and alcohol, the risky behaviors caused by unemployment and poverty contribute to social tensions and threaten tourist industry growth, which is so vital to Caribbean island economies. Lacking experience with programs to help “at-risk” boys, the Government of St. Lucia (GOS) reached out to the World Bank, which provided a South-South Facility funded grant to support St. Lucia’s participation in two related knowledge exchanges. St.

Several Caribbean countries face similar challenges including inadequate policies, interventions, and systems to protect the most vulnerable from the irreversible effects of recurring crises impacting the health and nutrition status of mothers and children. Grenada, Haiti, Dominica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent recognized their need for assistance in building capacity to formulate country disaster and emergency plans. The World Bank assisted by connecting them with other countries both within the Caribbean and Latin America and outside the region to share knowledge and experiences.

Chronic malnutrition, or stunting, is a serious problem in Central America. Stunting rates in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama are greater than 20 percent and the cost of malnutrition in these countries is estimated to range from 2.3 to 11.4 percent of GDP.¹  A growing number of studies show that community-based growth promotion (CBGP) programs can help reduce malnutrition rates.