Insights from Jamaica’s catastrophic experience with Hurricane Melissa will help inform the 2026 edition of the global Human Development Report (HDR), following a landmark consultation convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI).

With the 2025 landfall of the category five Hurricane, UNDPs global HDR team is looking to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Jamaica for insights on how the planetary crisis is reshaping social vulnerability and human development.

DR Lisa Vasciannie, who will assume leadership of the Department of Government, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona, on August 1, has declared her commitment to advancing its impact on national development.

According to Vasciannie, this will be done through the department’s core undergraduate and graduate programmes in political science, public policy, and international relations.