US$10M in financing to fuel youth participation, sustainable development
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd at the Commonwealth Ministerial Meeting on Small States at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd at the Commonwealth Ministerial Meeting on Small States at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda

–in Commonwealth Small Island Developing States

By Rabindra Rooplall in Kigali, Rwanda
THE Commonwealth Secretariat’s ground-breaking collaboration with Cambridge University has unlocked more than US$10 million in private financing for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), despite the project only being halfway through its research phase.

This is according to Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland on Wednesday, during a Commonwealth Ministerial Meeting on Small States at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda.
At the meeting, attended by Guyana’s Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd, Ms. Scotland said that sixty per cent of the Commonwealth’s 2.5 billion population is under the age of 30.

According to the Secretariat, the Commonwealth Charter vividly outlines the importance of placing young people at the heart of decisions affecting their future, including those related to climate change and sustainable development.

The Cambridge collaboration brings young people together with political leaders and world-leading experts to generate and stress-test new policy ideas ahead of implementation.
As part of the project, teams generate funding templates for SIDS to attract new investment in projects designed to promote youth participation and sustainable development.

Of the recently secured US$10 million, US$5 million will be provided by Simplilearn across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to provide 10,000 young people with digital training.
The remaining investment will come from GOQii, as part of their effort to promote healthy lifestyles among young people. Pop India will also invest in youth connectivity and jobs in the Caribbean region.

GOQii is an Indian fitness technology company headquartered in California that offers a wearable fitness band with a mobile-‘app’, and personalised remote coaching.
This investment represents a near 50-fold return on investment for the collaboration, which has more than a year remaining until the research is complete.

In its own investment announcement, GOQii thanked Secretary-General Scotland, and praised the Cambridge collaboration “for attracting sustainable development in Small Island Developing States, which will underpin our efforts”.

According to the Secretary-General: “Attracting finance for Small Island Developing States to engage young people in shaping their sustainable futures is a major challenge. I am delighted that our collaboration with Cambridge University is already bearing fruit, and unlocking finance for the states which most need it. We will look to take this work from strength to strength.”

Meanwhile, during the Commonwealth Ministerial Meeting on Small States, leaders also celebrated the introduction of the Resilience Sustainability Trust (RST), which has been called the International Monetary Fund’s most innovative instrument yet.

The RST is the first IMF instrument to include vulnerability as a criterion for access to concessional financing, meaning that unlike other concessional windows, the RST will not exclude small states.
According to Travis Mitchell, Adviser and Head, Economic Policy and Small States at the Commonwealth Secretariat, the instrument will carry a 10.5 year grace period, and a maturity profile of 20 years, making it the longest duration financing mechanism in the IMF toolkit.

Some 32 of the world’s 42 small states are Commonwealth members. The Commonwealth Secretariat has championed small and vulnerable states since the 1980s, and campaigns internationally for special attention to the unique development challenges they face.

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