Implementation-Oriented design in CARICOM regional policies: A theory informed configurational evaluation

This study evaluates implementation-oriented design in nine Caribbean Community (CARICOM) regional policy documents, a governance setting marked by fragmented authority and sovereignty constraints. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as a configurational mapping technique, it examines how eleven design dimensions cluster among policies with higher membership in a composite design-readiness set. Goal Clarity and Instrument Suitability recur across the highest-membership cases, while configurations involving Enforcement Mechanisms, Role Definition, and Monitoring and Feedback Systems characterize the strongest design architectures. These set-relational patterns describe higher-order design coherence but are not causal effects and do not indicate observed implementation performance. An OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)-aligned crosswalk provides a secondary interpretive summary of the same design scores. The study therefore conceptualizes implementation readiness as a design-based property of policy documents and shows how institutional constraints are reflected in regional policy architecture. The findings offer practical guidance for strengthening procedural clarity, accountability, monitoring, resource specification, and institutional alignment in CARICOM and comparable multilevel governance systems.