137 Projects, More Than 13,000 Trained Saint Lucians, and Over 28 Million Dollars in Investments

The above statistics were presented on October 21, 2026, for the period October 2012 to December 2025, by Mr Giles Romulus, the outgoing National Coordinator of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), which is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),

The venue was Government House. The occasion was the presentation of the 13th GEF SGP UNDP report to the Government and People of Saint Lucia.

Speaking to an impressive gathering, comprising beneficiaries from throughout the island, representatives of local embassies, and government officials, including Prime Minister Philip J Pierre, Mr Romulus provided a detailed description of projects designed strictly to improve the environment in Saint Lucia, while simultaneously improving the lives of the less fortunate in the country—particularly those with great ideas, but little or no financial support.

THE BOY FROM GEORGE CHARLES BOULEVARD IN  MARCHAND

Reliving his boyhood days, bathing in the Marchand River,  next to the Marchand Primary School, which he attended, and long before the birth of the Entrepot Community, Giles lamented the  degradation of the natural environment.

Serving for 22 years, first as the Sub-regional Coordinator of GEF SGP UNDP for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean from 2004 to 2011, and then the National Coordinator for Saint Lucia from 2012 to 2026,  the programme generated  hundreds of positive life-changing initiatives for tens of thousands of Caribbean people and Saint Lucians, whilst ensuring that the environment was not destroyed.  A development model in which the basis of human survival is protected, while people’s needs are met.

GOING WHERE NO ONE ELSE HAS GONE

In a moving presentation that meticulously tracked his 14-year tenure, Romulus painted a picture which he noted was driven by the old Star Trek film mantra, to go where “no one else has gone before” in partnership with committed grantees from all over Saint Lucia.

The mantra which underpinned his selfless service, did realize the implementation of many seminal projects. Among them:

FIRST fully SOLARIZED HONEY PROCESSING PLANT in Saint Lucia.

FIRST HONEY SHOW in Saint Lucia, with that model extended to the OECS and CARICOM.

FIRST DESIGNED—but not constructed–APICULTURE CENTRE for Saint Lucia.

FIRST online training course in basic apiculture, comprising 17 modules. Over 700 people in Saint Lucia and the Wider Caribbean trained.

FIRST Fond St. Jacques Integrated Rural Development Programme, with the emergence of several micro-businesses and a new camping site.

FIRST MOBILE DESALINATION PLANT in Saint Lucia, with the second generation exported to Nauru in a seminal  trans-oceanic partnership.

FIRST solarised fishing facility with savings going towards a pension scheme for fishers.

FIRST major pollution project for the Soufriere Watershed.

AND MANY MORE, which included his programme’s role in reviving the Apiculture Industry in Saint Lucia and preparing the first Apiculture Policy for the OECS, which has already been approved by the Ministers of Sustainable Development of the OECS and awaiting final approval from the Ministers of Agriculture, for its implementation.

ROMULUS’ PERSPCTIVES ON THE FUTURE

More genuine leaders in civil society organizations

High-level leadership in Civil Society Organizations

Integrating science and sustainable enterprises/entrepreneurship

Introduction and periodic High-Level Dialogues (e.g. Ai in development)

The psychological aspects of sustainable development (assumptions, thoughts & beliefs are all important and must be challenged.)

Move from “espoused theories” of love thy neighbour to the Aquinian concept of willing the good of another.

A NATIONAL ASSET

From the Acting Governor General, Felix Finisterre, to the current Chairman of the Small Grants Programme, SGP, Julius Polius, unbridled praises were showered on Romulus, portraying him as a national asset. Romulus was depicted as passionate in carrying out his duties: indefatigable, constructive, and goal driven.

CITATIONS

The Acting Governor General of Saint Lucia was called upon to present two GEF SGP UNDP Citations to two grantees, in the persons of Ms. Nadia Cazaubon of Caribbean Waterways and Mr. Merphilus James of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities, for exemplary community service in various aspects of environmental management and sustainable livelihoods, In absentia, Dr Cheryl Remy also received a Citation and a Certificate of Appreciation for nearly six years of pro bono contributions on the GEF SGP UNDP NSC.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

Saint Lucian Rhodes Island Scholar, Rahym Augustin Joseph, in delivering the keynote address, summed up the SGP under Romulus’ leadership, as “providing hope to the hopeless” within an ecosystem of sustained support. Joseph was adamant that though the physical impacts of such life-altering initiatives can be measured, there are untold positive psychological benefits that are immeasurable. Moreover, he categorized the SGP’s output as providing a toolkit with all the requisite implements needed to allow for personal and community growth and development, more specifically for the marginalized.

Stephanie Ziebell, the Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, noted the positive impact of the projects on the livelihoods of thousands of Saint Lucians, and pledged the UNDP’s continued support for the government and people of the country. Ziebell applauded the service of volunteers on the National Steering Committee, NSC, who are critical in ensuring the success of the SGP and showed paise on the National Coordinator,

For his part, Prime Minister Philip J Pierre, whilst singing the praises of Romulus, acknowledged that the implementation of such important initiatives, was in sync with his government’s overriding philosophy of “putting people first.”  He not only complimented Romulus but also  wished him well in his retirement.

The four-hour event ended with light music, a small cocktail within the well manicured lawns of Government House and the picturesque view of Castries, the Northwest Coast of Saint Lucia and the outline of Martinique on the horizon.