Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 21, 2018 (SKNIS): Communities in St. Kitts and Nevis can further benefit from greater assistance via the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP).
This was made known after a meeting with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), community district representatives, community development officers and youth volunteers, as the programme recently received increased funding geared towards helping communities to mitigate, undertake recovery and response activities to disasters.
“One of the areas of great interest to SGP and communities is that of water harvesting and storage. The programme is willing to assist community groups to develop their own sources of emergency water supplies for key buildings in their communities,” said Ilis Watts, National Coordinator of Small Grants Programme St. Kitts-Nevis (SGPSKN). “Communities will be also encouraged to submit proposals for funding to assist in the development of their community emergency toolkit that could be accessed directly by the community before and after an emergency event. “
The SGPSKN national coordinator further stated that one of the areas that SGP would also wish to provide support to both the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Nevis Disaster Management Department (NDMD) is in the area of training and capacity building for disaster management volunteers, especially a newly established youth volunteer corps that was already in place.
“SGP has developed a good relationship with NEMA and NDMD over the past years and we see this as an opportunity to work with these two important organizations, as well as the communities across the Federation to build partnerships, and develop new approaches and strategies to improve the resilience of communities in the face of the impacts of climate change, community based disasters and risk management,” she added.
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”. By providing financial and technical support to projects that conserve and restore the environment while enhancing people’s well-being and livelihoods, SGP demonstrates that community action can maintain the fine balance between human needs and environmental imperatives.
