THERE is a small group of women in the northern hills of Belle Vue in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia whose after-school backyard garden was transformed into a sustainable farming programme with their organic produce being sold at the nearby communities, including the town of Vieux Fort. The project leader is a former school teacher, Kate Edmee. She said it started with some simple ideas. “We used the compound of the Belle Vue Combined School to produce seedlings, we gave the children and the parents seedlings to go home and practice”. This worked well, interested parents then came together to form the Belle Vue Kitchen Garden Group and approached the team at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Facility (SGP) for funding. The rest is now history.
The project support from GEF focussed on the introduction of organic farming in the production of vegetables. The GEF SGP contributed US$27,042.00 while the community contributed a total of US11, 078.00 of co-financing in cash and in-kind. This project which continues to be successfully managed by a group of women has brought many benefits to the community including healthier foods for children, income for the households and training in organic farming practices for the community. One member of the group received training in composting in Japan through the Japanese Government and is sharing this knowledge and expertise with the entire community.
This project is among the many success stories in which the GEF SGP has invested financial and technical resources, provided guidance and overall community support. During the past year, January to December 2017, the GEF SGP provided support for seventeen projects in Saint Lucia, up from five the year before. This brought the number of projects funded by the programme to seventy-four (74) since its establishment in 2012. The total value of the projects funded in 2017 was US$1.3 million (XCD$3.511 million) and the total since 2012 is US$3.64 million ((XCD$9.83 m).
The projects which have been approved include the first fully solar aquaponics production and teaching facility in Bois d’en Choiseul, a fully computerised solar greenhouse system in Babonneau, support for a project in Choiseul in the extended use of solar energy within a small group of households.
Other projects include the development of management plans for natural resources in Laborie and a vertical aquaponics facility and rain water harvesting system at the Boys Training Centre in Gros Islet. The GEF SGP continues to provide support and invest in the Algas Organics project which has used the invasive sargassum seaweed to produce organic fertilizer for the farming community.
This investment in 2017 by the programmes, resulted in the employment of 222 people (111 woman and 111 men) and a total income of EC$356,249.00 for various services, from manual labour in the fields to project managers and consultants. In the implementation of these projects 865 people were trained in a wide range of areas including the harmful effects of toxic pesticides, sustainable seamsoss harvesting, aquaponics, water quality testing, stakeholder analysis and management, proposal writing, communications, and project management.
In the year ahead the GEF SGP has already entered collaborative relationships with new agencies and organisations. These include the Canabelle Cooperative Society in Canaries to explore the production and marketing of castor oil, and the Saint Lucia Teachers Union for the developing capacity in SDGs and establishing a programme in food security in selected schools in the island.
The conditions for the grants are rigorous to ensue sustainability. These projects must clearly demonstrate the potential changes in the livelihoods and well-being of the people, protection of the landscape/seascape diversity ecosystems and biodiversity and build capacity. They must also include strong components related to learning and innovation, acceptable community governance and equity including gender equity.
All project proposals must be reviewed and approved by the National Steering Committee (NSC) and each grantee is expected to raise 50% of the financing in cash and in-kind contribution, with 50% in the form of a grant coming from the GEF SGP. The GEF SGP Saint Lucia has recognised that this funding condition can be challenging for many small rural communities and is exploring efforts to address this situation, but also considers the effort at sourcing co-funding as part of the capacity building process.
Notwithstanding this challenge, the GEF SGP Saint Lucia reported an increase in the co-funding ratio for 2017. According to the 2017 annual report “This means that for every US$1.00 invested in Saint Lucia in 2017,EC$2.17 was raised in co-funding which is above the required ratio of 1:1. Overall however, since the inception of the programme in 2012, the co-funding ratio is on average 1:1.60 which is not too comfortable because it gives less room for flexibility, i.e., we have less room to fund projects in very poor areas where co-funding ratios cannot be met for various reasons”
Programme coordinator for Saint Lucia Mr. Giles Rolumus has expressed satisfaction with the operations of the GEF SGP in Saint Lucia for the past year noting that “we have helped people to believe in themselves and to successfully undertake initiatives which others said that they could not accomplish”. This sentiment has been echoed by Kate Edmee leader of the Belle Vue Kitchen Garden Group, “We had a dream and GEF did assist us in making that dream a reality”
The National Steering Committee (NSC) must review and approve all submitted projects. Dr. Barbara Graham, former Head of FAO-UN in the Caribbean, chairs the NSC which is made of people with a wide range of skills and experiences which are required to evaluate and monitor projects in accordance with the Country Programme Strategy (CPS) , e.g., management of protected areas, community based adaptation initiatives to climate change; sustainable agricultural production, agro-processing, agro-forestry, protection of river banks and the use of alternative energy in sustainable production systems
NSC chair Dr. Graham says the work completed by the GEF SGP in Saint Lucia in 2017 “is an encouraging indicator of progress towards the creation of resilient communities” and provides “a sound basis for change in livelihoods, security options and income generation potential for vulnerable and marginalized populations, as well as in more favourably resources groups and sectors.”
The 2017 annual report for the GEF Small Grants Programme for Saint Lucia was formally released at a public event on June 1st, 2018. The report is available at http://sgp.undp.org
The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on behalf of the GEF Partnership, which includes, The World Bank, UNEP, UNDP and others. Established in 1992 with the main aim to achieve environmental sustainability, reduce poverty and build capacity, it is making its mark in communities around Saint Lucia. The staff of the Saint Lucia office are Mr. Giles Romulus and Ms. Anela Jean-Marc.