President of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Daniel Best has sought to reaffirm the leadership role of the region’s premier financial institution in advancing inclusion, accessibility, and equal opportunity for persons with disabilities across the Caribbean.
Best, speaking at the 2025 Caribbean Disability Conference being held under the theme ‘Breaking Barriers: Advancing Inclusive Education for All Abilities,’ called for renewed regional commitment to create societies that leave no one behind.
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) President Daniel Best (right) presents a signboard confirming CDB’s support for the Caribbean Disability Network (CDN) Legacy Project in Barbados to CDN President Andrew Sharpe (left) and Barbados Council for the Disabled President Patricia Padmore-Blackman (centre).
In his address to the event which ends on Wednesday, Best highlighted the findings of a recent CDB Regional Disability Assessment Report that reflected in the bank’s disability policy, showing that persons with disabilities across the Caribbean continue to face systemic exclusion and limited access to services, education, and employment.
He urged governments, institutions, and communities to act decisively to dismantle these entrenched barriers.
‘CDB is in the business of breaking barriers that contribute to the unfulfilled development needs of all vulnerable populations, including persons with disabilities. The bank affirms that persons with disabilities must enjoy the rights, dignity, respect and access to opportunities as citizens of our independent nations. They possess equal rights and fundamental freedoms to participate fully in all aspects of life, and express their views freely on matters affecting them,’ Best added.
He said that as part of its leadership role, CDB has developed a Model Special Education Needs and Inclusive Education (SEND) Policy and Strategy (2024) in collaboration with education stakeholders across the region.
The initiative provides a blueprint for transforming education systems to ensure that all learners, regardless of ability, can access quality education in supportive, inclusive environments.
The CDB said it continues to invest in early identification and intervention, teacher training, curriculum adaptation, and the development of accessible infrastructure.
Additionally, the bank has an enduring partnership with the conference organiser, the Caribbean Disability Network (CDN), and provides support for the annual event.
Most recently, CDB pledged financial and technical assistance for the CDN Legacy project in Barbados that will train local information technology (IT) professionals in digital accessibility and establish an accessible technology hub at the Barbados Council for the Disabled.
Best said that over the past five years, CDB has strengthened national capacity for disability inclusion through targeted financing, policy development, and technical assistance.
He said the CDB’s Disability Assessment Reports and Policy Briefs for Grenada, Jamaica, t. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago reflect this ongoing commitment and to further promote accessibility and inclusion, it has introduced tools such as the Disability Inclusion Checklist and the Persons with Disabilities User Assessment Tool, both designed to improve inclusivity in infrastructure projects and community development initiatives.
In a symbolic gesture of accessibility, the bank will hand over CDB’s Commitments to Inclusive Development in braille to National Associations for Persons with Disabilities, reaffirming its d