Grenada has faced various socioeconomic challenges within the last decade, including the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and the global financial crisis. As a result, economic indicators for Grenada illustrate unfavorable increases in the poverty and unemployment rates, especially among the youth and young adults.
As studies show a shortage of skills throughout the economy skills development has come into focus within the last five years in an effort to stimulate the private sector, which continues to struggle to attract foreign investment. Workforce development (WfD) has been deemed a priority for improving the country’s socioeconomic prospects.
To support the government of Grenada in this effort, the World Bank implemented the diagnostic tool SABER?WfD to assess the institutional bottlenecks that stand in the way of progress; this exercise was viewed by the World Bank as a first step to deepen dialogue around the major WfD challenges that the country needs to address. The results of the assessment presented in this report are expected to assist in clarifying priorities. They classify the WfD system according to four stages of maturity in policy and institutional development, as follows: (1) Latent, (2) Emerging, (3) Established, and (4) Advanced.