Supports the development of a positive enabling environment for the region's digital economy that drives competition, investment, and innovation while promoting trust and security of online transactions.
This component aims to support greater telecoms sector competition, affordability, and service quality across the region as well as enhancing resilience and emergency response capabilities for critical communications infrastructure. Specific activities will include:
- Subcomponent 1.1.a: Review of the legal and regulatory frameworks covering telecommunications and support for drafting of new or amending existing legislation and regulations as necessary at regional and national levels, paired with a review of telecom sector governance and institutional structures, procedures, and authority at regional and national levels.
- Subcomponent 1.1.b: Establishment of a quality of service (QoS) monitoring and enforcement methodology and capacity.
- Subcomponent 1.1.c: Development of action plans to improve network resilience and post disaster recovery and emergency communications, and implementation of communications infrastructure disaster response and recovery drills in partnership with private sector
This component aims to spur greater innovation, investment, and adoption of digital financial services across the region. It will support modernization of the policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks and underlaying payment infrastructure currently holding back innovators within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). Specific activities will include:
- Subcomponent 1.2.a: Proposing updates to the Payment Systems Act and Money Services Business Act and corresponding regulations and designing an oversight framework for digital financial services, with corresponding support for adoption and implementation of the harmonized regional legislation and regulations at the national level.
- Subcomponent 1.1.b: Undertaking demand-side surveys on financial access and usage in line with international standards to inform policy making and monitor progress toward financial inclusion goals.
- Subcomponent 1.1.c: Development of an overarching Payment Systems Strategy for the region.
- Subcomponent 1.1.d: Technical design of a regional Instant Payment System (IPS) open to banks, non-banks, and ECCU governments to reduce the costs and time required for payment transfers
This subcomponent aims to build trust in online transactions and strengthen the security and resilience of digital infrastructure and systems, while promoting cybersecurity awareness and capacity building as well as create an enabling environment and institutions needed to protect the public and private sector from cyber vulnerabilities. Specific activities will include:
- Subcomponent 1.3.a: Reviewing and updating of regional and national cybersecurity policies, legislation, regulation, and institutional and coordination structures
- Subcomponent 1.3.b: Establishing a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) or a cybersecurity agency at the national level in line with a regionally agreed model and support for regional threat intelligence sharing, incident escalation, and support protocols.
- Subcomponent 1.3.c: Regionally coordinated capacity building and networking for government cyber professionals and cyber awareness campaigns for civil servants and the general public.
- Subcomponent 1.3.d: Review and update of regional and national data protection and privacy laws and data access and exchange policies