New research presented this month in New York shows that Jamaica is outperforming some better-resourced, middle-capacity countries in moving towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The research positions Jamaica as “a live test” of how better sequencing, stronger institutions, and targeted investment can turn the SDGs’ vaunted ambition into results, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office here tells us.

The thought is rather flattering given the bleak outlook on the country’s economic prospects, especially in the context of the mountainous challenges posed by the pounding Jamaica took from Category 5 Hurricane Melissa.

At the very least, the New York conversation, titled Breaking the Bottleneck: Productive capacities and SDG acceleration, the Jamaica experience, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the UN, was worthwhile and appeared to be money well spent.

Importantly, the event came on the margins of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum 2026, with less than five years to go until 2030, a magical deadline for development goals that should reduce poverty and lift standard of living of the most vulnerable countries on the planet.

It brought together experts from the Government of Jamaica, The University of the West Indies, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the wider UN system.

Speakers included Jamaica’s Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr.

Using Jamaica as a live case study of how a middle-capacity small island developing state (SID) can move faster through evidence, reform, and carefully sequenced investment, the UN’s Resident Coordinator Dr Dennis Zulu argued that the development conversation had shifted from commitment to delivery.

“The question is no longer whether countries are committed to the Sustainable Development Goals. Jamaica’s commitment is not in doubt. The question is whether our institutions, our systems, and our financing frameworks can convert that commitment into delivery,” he insisted.

The data presented showed that Jamaica ranks 84th out of 169 countries in the Sustainable Development Report and is performing above the average for SIDs.

It is to be noted, however, that even with Jamaica’s commendable achievements, overall only 26 per cent of SDG indicators have been fully achieved, while 38 per cent are unchanged or worse than the 2015 baseline.

We in this space are keenly interested in the discussions about building up the productive capacity of developing countries like Jamaica, where the serious lack of capacity has continued to be a terrible bugbear.

It is well known that a great many projects remain on the drawing table for a considerable period of time, not for want of funding, ironically, but for lack of capacity to implement them in ways that can meet the rigorous accounting and reporting standards established by donor countries and multilateral donor institutions.

We believe the point can never be stressed enough that strong plans, finance, and political commitment are not always what is most needed, and that progress can stall when skills, institutions, infrastructure, energy systems, and technology are weak or disconnected.

Still, we urge the planners not to let up in their SDG endeavours.