Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 24, 2017 (SKNIS): Twenty-eight (28) organizations in St. Kitts and Nevis will be recognized for their contributions in promoting a sustainable environment during a ceremony on Saturday, November 04 at the St. Kitts Eco Park.
The groups were awarded a total of US$1.36 million under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Small Grants Programme (SGP) since the Programme’s implementation in 2013.
The SGP provides funding of up to US$50,000 directly to local communities to support projects in GEF priority areas. To date, it has approved grants for thirty projects on St. Kitts and Nevis in the areas of recycling; agroprocessing using solar energy; climate smart agriculture (shade house establishment and water for agriculture); turtle conservation; biodiversity conservation; flood mitigation; land degradation; capacity development for youth in renewable energy management, and public awareness programmes using the performing arts.
“Grantees, comprising of community groups and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), engage in projects aimed at conserving and restoring the environment while enhancing people’s well-being and livelihoods. The Small Grants Programme, through the work of these organizations, ably demonstrates that community action can maintain the fine balance between human needs and environmental imperatives,” said Ilis Watts, Small Grants Programme St. Kitts-Nevis (SGP SKN) National Coordinator.
The grantees will be recognized during an official launch of the GEF UNDP Operational Phase (OP) 6 grant funding programme 2016-2019, as well as the celebration of the anniversary year of “GEF and SGP twenty- five years Together”
SGP SKN’s team comprises a national coordinator, who is responsible for the daily operation of the programme, and a group of volunteer members making up the National Steering Committee. The committee is responsible for the review, selection and approval of local projects. The SGP began as a stand-alone project during 2013 to support community-level initiatives across the range of global environmental issues addressed by the GEF.
The SGP works in conjunction with the Ministry of Sustainable Development and other line Ministries as the program is mandated by the GEF and UNDP to support sustainable development activities with the Federation.
According to its website https://sgp.undp.org/, the SGP was established in 1992, the year of the Rio Earth Summit. The GEF Small Grants Programme embodies the very essence of sustainable development by “thinking globally acting locally.”
