 St. Lucia Development Bank's Act to Adapt School Competition. My name is Alicia Alley and I am a communication specialist at the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Commission or as we like to call it the OECS Commission. Thank you all for joining us this morning. We are so excited to have you today and we have an exciting program of events. But before I jump into our program, please let us stand for the national anthem of St. Lucia. Please be seated. I just want to remind everyone that we are live on the government of St. Lucia Facebook and YouTube pages. So show some love in the comments, let us know which school you're supporting, who your favorite finalist is and why. At this time I would like to recognize a few people. First of all I have Daryl Raymond who is the deputy chairman and also I would like to recognize the rest of the executives of the St. Lucia Development Bank. They are one of the reasons we are here today. Claudia Simmanuel, Permanent Secretary in the Department of Economics at the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and the Youth Economy. Cheryl Mathre, a project coordinator of the Project Coordination Unit in the Department of Economic Development. And she is also responsible for the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project, the DVRP, which you will be hearing a lot more about later. Dr Fiona Meyer, the Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training. And we do have representatives of our key project partners with us today. Loretta Rufo, the pilot program for Climate Resilience Coordinator for the Climate Investment Funds. Pascal Ledois, Program Officer for Engineering, Infrastructure and Disaster Risk Reduction at the European Union Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States. Bogdan Stefanescu and I really hope I am not butchering your name. The team leader for the Green Economy, Energy and Resilience for the European Union Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States. Elad Shenfield, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist and Task Team Leader for the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project at the World Bank. And we do have Crispin Dovey, the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Coordinator at the OECS Commission. Our local partners, we have the St. Lucia Association of Architects represented by Jamal Francis, the President. The Association of Professional Engineers represented by Joe Lindbergh, the immediate past president and executive member. The students and principals of the participating secondary schools. The National Science Association and I must especially mention Giannetti George who served as a valuable liaison between the bank and the schools. Students, parents, guardians, teachers, principals, ladies and gentlemen and all our viewers online, it is a pleasure to have you with us. St. Lucia is no stranger to climate action. In fact, we in the Eastern Caribbean know the importance and urgency of climate adaptation to our very survival. While it is important to have the ideas and the drive to innovate and move in a more sustainable direction, it is equally important to have access to financing these climate action initiatives. And at this juncture, it is only fitting that I invite the Permanent Secretary in the Department of Economics at the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and the Youth Economy to welcome you here today. Put your hands together for Claudius Emanuel. Thank you, Alicia, and good day to all. Another day that the Lord has made. It is my pleasure to welcome each one of you to the SLDB Act to Adapt Competition Award ceremony, those attending in person as well as those in our virtual audience. I'd like to recognize the presence of representatives of the competition partners who will be participating in the ceremony today. Mr. Darrell Raymond, Deputy Chairman, St. Lucia Development Bank, Dr. Fiona Meyer, Chief Education Officer, Mr. Chris Pindovay, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Coordinator, OECS Commission, Ms. Loretta Ruffo from the Climate Investment Funds, Mr. Pascal Ledois and Mr. Bogdan Stefanescu, EU Delegation to Barbados, Mr. Ilan Schelfield, Schenfield, Task Team Leader Disaster Risk Vulnerability Reduction Project, World Bank, students, teachers, parents, other invited guests, ladies and gentlemen. When the Act to Adapt Competition was launched in April of 2021, we made it clear that we were launching more than just another school competition. We were bringing the urgent challenge of climate change adaptation to life and launching an essential journey by which students could develop the knowledge and skills necessary to build resilient homes, resilient communities and, by extension, a resilient St. Lucia. So today we are here not just to celebrate the winners of the Act to Adapt Competition, but the achievements made in building practical awareness of climate change impacts and the adaptation planning across schools and households in St. Lucia. The Act to Adapt Competition issued the first ever national challenge to secondary school students to conduct a climate change vulnerability assessment of their home by considering the potential impact of a Category 5 hurricane using the custom-built SLDB Act to Adapt app, a bit of a tongue twister. The app also gives students insight into their home's relative contribution to the global climate change by calculating their home's carbon footprint. Students will further challenge to develop an adaptation plan describing suitable and feasible adaptation measures to make their home more resilient and, if desired, mitigation measures to make their homes more climate-friendly. Students were placed into three competition categories based on the results of their home assessments. These were low vulnerability, medium vulnerability and high vulnerability. In the spirit of embodying practical learning, the winning student in each category was promised a cash prize sponsored through the SLDB Climate Adaptation Financing Facility, or the CAF, towards implementation of at least one measure identified in their adaptation plan. Second and third place prize winners were also up for grabs in the competition. I am proud to confirm that the first stage of the competition has been a resounding success. We've witnessed tremendous interest and learning by students and parents in climate change and climate resilience. And as the Permanent Secretary responsible for the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project, under which the CAF is implemented through the SLDB, I wish to congratulate the management of SLDB who saw it fit and important that the CAF engage in a meaningful way with students leading to the birth of this competition. It was our honor to have the DVRP Climate Change Coordinator, Ms. Burnett, partner closely with SLDB's team to lead to the development of the Act to Adapt app and bring this competition to life. The announcement of the winners today takes us into the second stage of the competition where we will all have the pleasure of following the winning students on their journey of implementing their adaptation projects with the guidance and support of the SLDB and DVRP teams. So in conclusion, let me welcome all to this announcement and award ceremony on the SLDB Act to Adapt competition. I'm sure we are all excited about meeting our winners and learning about their projects. So I thank you. Thank you, PS Emmanuel. And what is very important to note that this was a practical awareness challenge and it really did cause a lot of meaningful engagement. And as we go through our program, you will understand what PS Emmanuel means by that. And we are very much looking forward to following the winners on that implementation journey. The St. Lucia Development Bank's Act to Adapt school competition is, as you heard, powered by the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project, the DVRP, and the Climate Adaptation Financing Facility, or the CAF, in partnership with the organization of Eastern Caribbean states, the OECS. The SLDB is home to the Climate Adaptation Financing Facility, which offers low-interest loans to homeowners and business owners to finance measures that build resilience to climate change impacts. Homeowners can access loans for a wide variety of reasons. For example, hurricane resilient window and roof replacement or retrofitting, installing solar panels, solar water heaters, or rainwater harvesting systems, or implementing slope stabilization measures and improving drainage around properties. To date, the CAF has been particularly successful in enabling renewable energy installations with over a third of CAF loans funding solar panels or solar water heaters. At this point, I would like to now welcome Darryl Raymond, the Deputy Chairman of the St. Lucia Development Bank, to deliver remarks. Allow me to recognize Mr. Claudius Emmanuel, the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, and the Youth Economy. Dr. Fiona Mayer, Chief Education Officer within the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology, and Vocational Training. Ms. Darryl Mattre, Project Head of the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Program. Mr. Vincent Boland, the immediate past MD of the SLDB, who was very instrumental in the conceptualization of this initiative. Ms. Loretta Rufo, PPCR Coordinator of the Climate Investment Fund. Mr. Pascal Ledrot, and Mr. Bogdan Stefanesco of the EU Delegation to Barbados. Mr. Elad Shenfield, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist and Task Team Leader of the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project and of the World Bank. Mr. Crispin Dovey, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Coordinator of the OECS Commission. Our local partners, Mr. Jamal Francis, President of the St. Lucia Association of Architects. Mr. Joel Lindberg, Immediate Past President of the Association of Professional Engineers. Students and principals of participating schools. Ms. Giannetti George, Member of Camdou, and members of the National Science Association. Finalists, parents, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good morning. On behalf of the Board of Directors, the management and staff of the St. Lucia Development Bank, I wish to thank you all for joining us in celebrating and awarding the winners of the SLDB's Act to Adapt Competition. It is indeed heartening that despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant uncertainty and challenges that besets our education system, we are able to take a moment to celebrate and recognize the ingenuity, the creativity, and the sheer brilliance of our students. In their own way, our students have demonstrated their resilience, and I extend heartfelt congratulations to you all. At the SLDB, we are elated about what we have accomplished thus far through this competition, what is to come next as we journey with our winners, and even more elated about the seed that we have planted in the minds of our students, teachers and parents who participated in this national competition. In keeping with its mandate and core values, the SLDB takes seriously its role in facilitating St. Lucia's necessary transition to a climate resilient island. We are all aware of the devastation caused by unprecedented floods and droughts right here in St. Lucia, as well as the category five hurricanes that have ravaged our neighboring Caribbean islands. These extreme weather events now seem to be the norm, as opposed to the exception. Therefore, securing St. Lucia's future requires securing its resilience to climate change. In this regard, the SLDB is proud to be the home of the Climate Adaptation Financing Facility, the CAF. A pioneering mechanism to ensure access to affordable financing that empowers homeowners, farmers and other business owners to invest in measures to make their homes, their farms and their businesses resilient to the impacts of climate change. The CAF allows for collective efforts and provides everyone the opportunity to be a part of St. Lucia's transformation. Certainly, the goal of climate resiliency cannot be achieved by the government alone. It requires all of us to take personal responsibility, and through our collective effort, our overarching national goals can be realized. The work of climate adaptation is urgent and must be engaged in now, but it's also work that must endure and be continued by future generations. Therefore, the success of the CAF cannot be measured solely by the number and size of loans issued today, but also by our efforts to raise the awareness and consciousness of our young people. Certainly, our efforts cannot be evaluated by our success. Certainly, our efforts can be evaluated by our success in ensuring our youth are fully appreciative of climate change impacts, the required adaptation measures and the importance of investments in resiliency solutions. Indeed, the legacy of the CAF will be long and rich if we continue to engage our youth. The power of our young people is evident not only in their ability to shape the future, but also in the immediate influence they exercise in their homes and in their communities. It is against this backdrop that the SLDB's Act to Adapt School Competition sought to achieve the following goals. One, to raise student awareness of climate change impacts and appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures, including conversions to renewable and energy efficiency measures. Two, to expose students to the practical steps involved in building climate resilience and reducing carbon footprints, including identifying, planning, funding and implementing adaptation and mitigation measures. And three, to increase island-wide household awareness of and interest in the CAF and, by extension, increase the benefits derived from the CAF. In addition to achieving these goals, the SLDB is particularly proud that the competition spurred the creation of the SLDB Act to Adapt Digital App, a one-of-its-kind tool that guides users through a simple, step-by-step process to assess the impact of a Category 5 post-wind hurricane, severe flooding and drought on homes. This pioneering app has potential far beyond the Act to Adapt Competition and we look forward to the app being utilized by applicants to the CAF to help identify strategic interventions for resilience. Overall, the Act to Adapt Competition resulted in more than 120 students registering and working with the app. Ultimately, the competition generated 36 entries from 12 schools across the island. Nine students ranging from forms 1 to 5 have secured placements among the three competition categories. Participants were from St. Joseph's Convent, the Castry's Comprehensive Secondary School, the Leon Hesse Comprehensive Secondary School, St. Mary's College and the Viewfort Comprehensive Secondary School respectively. As we prepare to reveal the first prize winners in each category, I would like to stress that the prize money will go strictly towards implementing and adapting the adaptation and mitigation projects identified by students in their winning proposals. The participants will be disposed by the SLDB on the submission of invoices to ensure that the projects are implemented in a systematic and structured way. The SLDB and the DVR team will provide guidance as needed and also monitor and report on project implementation. The SLDB extends our heartfelt congratulations to all of the participants and winners. Credit to you for taking up this important challenge and equipping yourself and your family with knowledge that will serve you a lifetime. The SLDB Act to Adapt Competition Submissions highlighted the great need for home resiliency building across St. Lucia. I would like to encourage all involved in this competition and home owners more widely to reach out to the SLDB and our CAF officer to explore how you can access the climate adaptation financing facility to fund resiliency projects within your homes. Let me end by recognizing those who shared the SLDB's vision for this competition and formally partnered with us to make it a reality and a great success. Our local and regional partners included the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project Team, the OECS Commission, the Association of Professional Engineers of St. Lucia and the St. Lucia Institute of Architects. This vision could not be realized without the funding and technical support of our development partners including the World Bank, the Climate Investment Funds and the European Union through the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific EU Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Program, funding and technical guidance from these partners supported the development of the Act to Adapt Act, the competition webpage and the marketing and communication materials. I also wish to recognize the hard work of the core group of individuals who are pivotal to the development and execution of this competition. These persons include DVRP Climate Change Coordinator, Miss Angela Burnett, who developed the concept note, led development of the app content and design and supported student engagement. Senior Knowledge Management and Communication Specialist at the World Bank, Miss Kerry Diane Cox, who coordinated support from our developmental partners, facilitated hiring of supporting consultants and provided feedback on marketing and communication material. The SLDB's management and technical team who led on competition coordination and logistics. These persons include our CAF officer, Mrs. Diane Fasoie and our manager for business development and marketing and our corporate secretary, Mr. Philbert Francis. The Act to Adapt App Developer, Mr. Demetrius Charles, requires special recognition. Education Officer at Camdo, Miss Jeanette George, who served as an active liaison of the Department of Education and Schools, we thank you. Lead Communications and Marketing Consultant, Mrs. Barbara Jacobs-Small, all members of the communications and marketing team and all competition judges from the National Science Association and our competition partners who will be individually mentioned within the vote of thanks. We thank you all. Ladies and gentlemen, this competition has shown the tremendous success that can be attained by real cooperation, collective effort and a shared vision to bring about meaningful and lasting change. I thank you all and we look forward to future collaborative efforts as we seek to transform the socio-economic landscape of our island nation, St. Lucia. I thank you. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Chair. He said something very poignant. Securing St. Lucia's future requires securing St. Lucia's resilience. And that is what we are doing here today through the Act to Adapt Challenge, raising awareness and the consciousness of our young people, which is the key to our sustainable development and our sustainable growth. I think a lot of us don't recognize that education is so much broader than academics. Education is about empowering people with information to spur relevant implementations and innovations towards a positive change in our society, and that is why we are here today. And what an act to lead into our next speaker, Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Dr. Fiona Meyers. Please put your hands together. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Thank you to our Mistress of Ceremonies. Permit me to adopt the protocol having previously been established by the Head Table and our Mistress of Ceremonies. And just wish everybody a very pleasant good morning. Thank you for the response. And here's what, it is a fantastic day and our Permanent Secretary spoke of the day that the Lord has blessed. So we are definitely going to rejoice in it. I plan to do so, and I hope you do as well because it is not something that we should take for granted that we're able to sit here today. As I greet everybody, I must send out a special greeting. The countless meetings, Mr. Boland. The countless interventions. Your personal intervention in everything that we did and support. The meetings with Ms. George because the team at the Central Development Bank were passionate about this. That's what we're about as well. Passionate about seeing that young people need to be made aware as to how they can make a difference. And it is easy for the adults in the room to sit and say, this is how it should be done. This is the roadmap looking forward. But empowering our own young people to say they have a voice. Their ideas matter. Their contributions matter. They can implement as well is what I initially got out of the project. And so I want to thank you. It's been a long while coming. And COVID didn't help us along. The various times we met and we spoke about it. But here we are today. And our students sitting here supported by staff at our various schools and our teachers when they get into the meat of the matter. They will run with it. The administrators who supported. The parents likewise would have been behind their children. And the continued intervention by our technical people has allowed us to be here today. Let me congratulate you students. A little disappointing for me as well. Because when I have five schools participated, although we had over 120 entries, I'm thinking we could have done better. Could have done a lot better. But I am sitting here thinking the awareness has been planted in our minds. And even if a student may not have participated this time around, they are aware that their actions matter in terms of climate resilience. And hopefully we can take even smaller projects in our various communities and our various homes to ensure that our difference is felt. So here's what, students. The change is in your hands. Are you hearing me? So if you hear me say yes, Mrs. Meyer. The change is in your hands. I am loving it, yes? Because the little things that you do at your homes, at our homes, can lead to bigger, that will impact how our homes fare when there is a major disaster. So let us not take this away from you. We're actually giving it to you. So I want you to use it wisely. You participated and so you're here. You appreciate the opportunity. And over and over, we were told of cash prizes. Oh my goodness. This is January, right? That will come in handy. Cash prizes. And there is an extension to your school. And I'm hoping I see our teachers here, our administrators here. I'm hoping that this is highlighted at the school. Be it virtual or otherwise, on our Facebook pages, that we speak to our young people who've participated so much so that our schools gain something from it as well. So Mrs. Helcock, the challenge, please. Will you thought Leon Hess, St. Joseph's Convent, highlight the positives that our young people are doing and let it go viral? Because unfortunately the positives don't go viral. But we must appreciate that awareness. So let me encourage you to continue to be reflective as I encourage you to look to the individuals who supported you. Our various technical teams, Ms. George has been at it from our end in terms of education. Whoever's helped you along the way, look to them with gratitude. Continue to be reflective of what you started and let it not come to an end because it's a prize-giving ceremony, but let it continue to permeate through your homes, through your communities. And what we want is the knock-on effect for St. Lucia. I have unfortunately watched year after year of the pollution we see in the castries basin because of plastic. I don't know if the policy makers are listening. Put a value on the plastic bottle. And if it costs 50 cents, then one plastic bottle in the castries basin. So little things that we can do can make a huge difference for all of us. So students, continue along the path that you've chosen. Teachers, administrators, technical people, thank you for supporting along the way as we empower people, our children in particular, to have a voice in climate change. And they've shown us that today and we must continue to support them in that regard. On behalf of the Department of Education, I'd like to thank you all for supporting, for encouraging us to be partners with you and in the capacity of Chief Education Officer in particular. I want to say a big, big thank you as we extend our gratitude to the Central Development Bank to all of our international regional partners for having supported us along the way. I thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Myers. Your actions matter. The change is in your hands. The Chief did really put it in our hands. The little things that we do, do lead to big rewards. And so this is one of very many steps that we can take. As you heard before, the SLGB under the CAF created a household risk assessment application. It is a free tool that is accessible to the public to help homeowners assess their vulnerability to climate-related eventualities. However, they took a very creative approach in rolling it out and issued a challenge to our secondary school students, island-wide. And so to tell you more about this challenge, more about this competition, I now welcome Angela Burnett, the Climate Change Coordinator for the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project, to tell you more about this competition. Angela? Hi, a pleasant good morning to everyone. I'm hoping that everybody is able to see NKME. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Wonderful. I want to extend my very, very warm greetings to everyone. I so sincerely wish that I could have joined you in person on this momentous occasion. Having worked on this competition from its inception and having met with many of our winners virtually at help sessions and being inspired really by their proposals, I regret not being with you to give my congratulations face-to-face. From where I sit today, it is really hard to believe that the story of the Act to Adapt competition started over two years ago in the summer of 2019. I remember going to the SLDD to meet with Mrs. Francois, Mr. Francis, and other members of the SLDD team to discuss the CAF. While I can't recall the topic of discussion at particular D, I clearly remember the moment when the managing director, the then managing director, sorry, of the SLDD, Mr. Vincent Boulin, popped into the conference room to share an important directive. We must find a way for the CAF to engage schoolchildren. It was spoken gently but sternly and with the sort of conviction that compelled you to act and act quickly. We left the SLDD conference room that day with the idea of the Act to Adapt competition hatched. What started as a fairly straightforward idea with a simple execution plan and a short timeline quickly evolved into a proposal to develop a custom-built Act to Adapt app to support the initiative and marketing ambitions that would require the support of an external team. Oftentimes, leaders can be more concerned with quick wins than achieving the most meaningful outcomes. As such, I'd like to sincerely thank Mr. Boulin and the entire management of the SLDD for appreciating the vision as it evolved, in particular the value added of the Act to Adapt app, not just to the competition but for applications beyond, and in so doing, exercising patience and full support as the timeline and resource requirements shifted to accommodate development of the app. Mr. Dimitrios Charles, the software developer engaged to develop the app, worked with me long hours, often late at night and on weekends, to ensure that we not only had an app, but the best app possible. Dimitrios poured his heart and soul into the app, working with me to determine the best structure and design, visual design, to ensure the content was most appealing and digestible for students. The development process was highly iterative and Dimitrios literally worked through hundreds of content and design changes to the beta version of the app to produce the final product. He did it without complaints and with a commitment to excellence that is truly commendable. I'm very proud of what we developed together and the high satisfaction of users of the app. Dimitrios, I hope we have the opportunity to continue working together to further develop the app. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the competition planning went into hiatus for the majority of 2020, but as soon as it was feasible, we pressed ahead with plans and in April 2021, we were able to successfully launch the competition. As a planning team, we were constantly fueled by the exciting hunch that we could engage not only students, but parents and by so doing, rich future and current home owners and make a short and long-term impact on home resiliency in St. Lucia. So we purposefully crafted a competition that encouraged and even required the engagement of parents. One of the critical decisions we had to make early on was the right student audience for the competition's challenge. Should we focus on the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College or also include high school students? If we include high school students, should we only target the upper forms? You see, we were pursuing a novel idea and there was some uncertainty as to whether the information would be too complex for secondary school students. In the end, the prospect of reaching over 10,000 households by targeting the entire secondary school population was just too irresistible. But fundamentally, we also wanted to believe that there must be a way to engage students critical stage when they are learning the basics that will take them through life, whether or not they go on to a tertiary level education. In today's world and in particular in our evolving Caribbean landscape, a student and citizen understanding, climate change impacts and adaptation in practical terms is just as important as having basic arithmetic, reading and writing skills. We were encouraged to forge ahead when students provided positive feedback on the competition concept and the early content of the Act to Adapt app when it was still in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. So what have we learned from this pilot competition? Students have a healthy appetite to learn about climate change and climate adaptation in terms that matter to them. For those students who participated, we saw a high level of engagement with students actively attending help sessions and asking insightful questions. Students are interested and ready to soak up the information. We just have to package it appropriately for them. In many of the videos that will be shared with you today, students speak enthusiastically about having participated in this competition and the knowledge game. Secondly, the concepts of home resilience, and vulnerability assessments, and climate adaptation planning are not beyond the understanding of secondary school students. It is significant to note that the winners of this competition come from forms one through five. The outcome therefore demonstrates the capacity for secondary school students at all levels to engage with this crucial content. And finally, the model works. Engaging students resulted in engagement of parents. Not only did student knowledge increase as a result of participating in this competition, but so did the knowledge of parents, the home owners. We are happy to see, we were happy to see parents engaging in our act to adapt help sessions, for instance. I can fondly recall one parent's passionate remarks about the value of the content of the app at the end of one session. Determining the winners of the competition was not an easy task. The judging process involved a first round of judging by eight experienced judges from the National Science Association, which resulted in a pool of finalists who advanced to the final round of judging conducted by local and regional competition partners who determined placement in each category. The judging considered the climate change home risk assessment, which carried a weight of 25%, and the adaptation plan, which carried a weight of 75%. Criteria assessed included, for instance, completeness of submissions, presentation and adherence of submissions to requirements, logical assessment of expected impact levels, logical assessment of priority ratings and proposed adaptation measures, consistency of information presented, appropriateness, suitability, and feasibility of adaptation or mitigation measures, creativity, innovation, knowledge, and scientific reasoning, and demonstration of knowledge, resourcefulness, and strategic thinking in development of implementation plans. The decisions were tough. All students did well, but the students that bubbled to the top of the pool are well deserving of the awards and prizes being presented today. The videos provide just a glimpse into the winner's full proposals. While the spectrum of the 36 entries received was broad, in terms of understanding and application of the risk assessment concepts and quality of the adaptation proposals, and there's a lot of room for continued education and improvement, in collective terms, the judges were encouraged by the ability of most students to, one, understand how key structural features of a home, the roof, windows and doors, walls and foundation, influence a home's resilience to hurricane force winds. Two, understand the factors that make a home vulnerable to flooding. Three, understand the principle of water demand versus water storage capacity. And four, determine appropriate, suitable, and feasible adaptation and mitigation measures, some being quite creative and resourceful. Going forward, the judges are all agreed on the need for focused education on climate change impacts, home risk and vulnerability, and adaptation planning in schools. I truly hope that principals and teachers sensitized through the competition continue to actively use the Act to Adapt app as a real world teaching tool. I trust that through the partnerships forged with the Association of Professional Engineers of St. Lucia and the St. Lucia Institute of Architects, support can be provided to create localized educational content that students and parents can readily understand and relate to. The video and the seven features of a hurricane-resilient roof embedded in the Act to Adapt app and produced in collaboration with Jamal Francis, president of the St. Lucia Institute of Architects, is a sample of the great potential that exists. Finally, as an out-shoot of the partnership forged with the OACS commission, I look forward to seeing the Act to Adapt app competition concept rolled out across the region. On behalf of both panels of judges, I express thanks to all competition participants and highest congratulations to all of our winners. I also wish to deeply thank all those who contributed in one way or another to the success of this competition. Thank you. Pleasant good morning to everyone. I am a Anadesta student of St. Joseph's convent. I feel elated to have been selected as one of the finalists of the Act to Adapt competition organized by the St. Lucia Development Park. It was indeed a tasking but wonderful experience. After viewing the advertisement on electronic media, I thought it was a wonderful idea. My parents conquered since it was an opportunity to get some repairs done on my home. Let's just take a brief look at the importance of this to my family. The windowed side of the house has windows which are exposed to violent winds and require some form protection, hence the reason for shizzes. As you noticed, the guttering is no longer and would require replacing if we are to have a serene water to prepare for the dry season. Let us take a look at the roof which is covered in asphalt shingles, a hazardous material. Replacement would be needed and would also complement the rainwater harvesting system. Climate change is a global issue, so reducing fossil fuels in my home and this time would contribute to a healthy environment. Therefore, funding can be used to install a solar hot water system instead of the continued use of an electrical one and to assist in addressing the other issues. Thank you SLDB for this educational opportunity. It was an amazing experience. I am Afele English, a proud finalist in the SLDB After-Depth School Competition. I am a former student at the St. Joseph's College where we are taught to do our part in protecting what is most vulnerable. Through the effects of climate change and environment, our homes and our families are surely in need of increased protection, and by entering this competition, I aim to do my small part to safeguard my grandmother through a much needed home adaptation plan. My plan aims to guard against wind, flood and water shortage hazards by 1. The installation of hurricane shafts and the cutting of large trees. By installing hurricane shafts to the roof, there will be an additional layer of protection for life and property against the intense hurricane force winds by preventing the roof from becoming dislodged. The falling of large trees and branches on a nether house also pose a severe risk to my grandmother and their property itself. The trimming and cutting of select trees will avoid this potential disaster. 2. The construction of a drainage system. The excess runoff of ruined water from the neighboring property as well as the soil makeup causes waterlogged soil, landslipage and the formation of stagnant water pools which creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes and bacteria. The construction of a proper drainage system will reduce the potential for the water to be destabilized as well as lower the risk of vector-borne and other diseases throughout the community. 3. The installation of a water storage system. Droughts limit the water supply to residential areas. The increased need to ensure that proper hygiene is maintained due to vector-borne illnesses and other health hazards such as those posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic makes it even more important to ensure that there is an adequate supply of water to the house. The installation of a water storage tank will definitely help with that. To provide me the opportunity to be a part of this impactful competition, I truly appreciate all that I've learned. For example, I already knew a bit about wind, flood and water shortage hazards but was curious to know more about the ways in which I can reduce my carbon footprint. Though I've seen many energy style labels, I pay less attention to them. But for this competition I've learned a lot on the impacts of energy style appliances as well as other ways to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint. I now understand when my parents get so annoyed when my sister leaves the lights on and fun running all day. I will be looking for more ways to make a meaningful impact. I will encourage my friends to make a meaningful impact. I will encourage my friends to come into the same work. Bye! I will now be highlighting the key vulnerabilities of my household as well as the expected flood, wind and water shortage damage. So the expected level of wind damage to my house was identified as moderate mainly because of the poor condition of the double door hinges and also the absence of impact resistant glass windows and hurricane shutters which will be shown in a second. The double doors as you can tell are not very strong which means that any fossil wind could pop the doors and possibly throw them down knocking them out. Okay so as you can see this glass window in my home has already been shuttered by projectiles during a past hurricane where there were strong winds coming through. This is another window which was impacted by heavy winds. Okay so based on the key vulnerabilities my wind hazard adaptation plan includes reinforcing the double entry doors installing new windows with tempered or stronger glass. In select cases example this one to reduce the risk from projectiles and as well as sealing the cracks and gaps in the windows which were less impacted. The expected impact level of flood damage is identified as medium as my house as you can see is slightly elevated along with a good guttering system. However there are a few vulnerabilities when it comes to flooding. Example the elevation of the electrical and switches would cause an issue if a flood were to occur. As you can see there are also cracks in the walls that were temporarily patched over. These are a few minor cracks as well. Lastly the expected impact level of water shortage is high due to the circumstances out of my family's control such as the location and how many times you receive water a week. But the main issue or adaptation plan that I would like to put into play is the water storage capacity. As you can see we have a 600 gallon tank and my adaptation plan would include to place a 1000 gallon tank here in order to have sufficient water storage. Hi, my name is Dante Eugene. I am an actuator competitor. This competition was very interesting and informative as I was required to read a lot of articles. I also learnt a lot of new things. While assessing my home I realised that we were in the low vulnerability category. Our two main vulnerabilities were we do not have sufficient drainage to channel the water away from the property. We also do not have impact resistant glass windows so when there is a hurricane there is risk of debris to fly through the window. My adaptation plan to fix these problems are build sufficient drainage to channel the water away from the property. By play I would do should a hurricane be announced we bought up the windows. While assessing our home for carbon footprint we realised that our carbon footprint is already below 2 tons but we realised that we could further reduce it by turning off lights when not in use and not charging devices overnight. We also looked into water conservation methods. We looked into grey water reuse by using grey water housing in our backyard garden. I look forward to implementing this adaptation plan. Hello everyone my name is James Brattis. I attend the Leon Hesse secondary school and I am currently in form 5. I am a proud finalist in the active adaptation competition. This short video highlights the key vulnerabilities of my home and the proposed adaption measures to make it more resilient to climate change. The glass windows are prone to damage by flying debris during high winds. To prevent this window shutters should be installed. Therefore we need a proper water storage tank and an elevated platform that maximise the volume of in water harvesting. That provide enough water for our household during extended drought from our school. It's updated and desperate need of replacement. New cutters installed by one of the roofing companies will prevent leaks and maximise the amount of water collected in the water storage tank. Impressive, impressive are you as impressed as I am? I'm not hearing you are you as impressed as I am? And we are very proud of some of our finalists and not all of them. Let's take in another look at who else we have in the runnings for the SLDB's Act to Adapt Challenge. Hello, my name is Eslee Flam. I am currently a Form 2 student at the San Joseph's Convent Secondary School. I decided to take part in the Act to Adapt competition and I am very happy that I am a finalist. This is just a summary of my entry highlighting the vulnerabilities of my home and an overview of the improvement projects I plan to implement to address these vulnerabilities. The first set of vulnerabilities I noticed were from the walls and foundation which is my top priority. Vulnerabilities include minor hairline cracks or fractures in the walls as well as chips and hairline cracks in the foundation. To improve on these vulnerabilities I would like to construct a downstairs apartment with an interconnecting garage to one protect the family's vehicle from the elements of weathering and to further fortify the upstairs apartment same-season stilts. Another set of vulnerabilities I witnessed came from the windows and doors. My windows are missing a waterproof sealant and hurricane shutters. Also my windows are not impact resistant. The windows on my front door are not impact resistant and do not have hurricane shutters. The back door needs to be replaced as it is in post-structured condition due to the elements of weathering. Hurricane shutters need to be added to both doors and the waterproof sealant needs to be added to the back door. To reduce my household carbon footprint I want to add solar panels to the roof of my house to be the main source of energy. The second measure would be to change as many appliances as possible to ones that produce less carbon such as changing our gas stove to an electric stove. My experience in this competition has been good. It was fun and I learnt a lot during this time. I learnt what it takes for a house to withstand the winds and rains produced by category 5 hurricane. I really really enjoyed this competition and I'm happy I decided to take part in it. Thank you all for listening and God's richest blessings for 2022. Hi everyone, my name is Kai Armstrong I attend the Befort Comprehensive Secondary School and presently I'm in Form 3. I'm one of the participants of the SLDB Act to Adopt competition. Act to Adopt for me was such an eye-opener and a great learning experience. After completing the project I became aware of so many dangerous vulnerabilities in my household which I then brought to the attention of my parents so that they can get them fixed and our safety can be alleviated. In my opinion, I think that home-raising is of paramount importance and that other students around the unusual gain knowledge on the topic so that they too can protect themselves and their family from a category 5 hurricane. Now I would like to take you around my house and show you some of the vulnerabilities I would like to address if I win. The front door at my house was not anchored down properly hence what I usually sips under during heavy showers. During the smallest of the drizzles water always accumulates in the walkway and patio of my house. This is really dangerous as it makes my house prone to flooding. The windows at my house were not sealed with anti-mold sealant hence it became moldy over time and now water easily sips through it. When there is heavy rain water always accumulates near the foundation of my house. This is very dangerous as the water sips downward into the foundation. The gutters around my house were not built very well so when it rains the water does not flow away but instead overflows and floods my yard. Thank you. Please use the impact of a serious category 5 hurricane on our house. Come with me to let me share the results of my climate change home research assessment and the adaptation plan I have today. The estimated impact of a wind hazard to my house is major. To reduce the high risk of broken glass and exposure to intense winds my adaptation plan proposes 3 solutions. One installation of shatter proofing over exposed glass. Two, adding door strips to the bottom of French doors. Three, inserting sealants and protection shutters to selected windows and doors. The estimated impact from a flood hazard revealed a low impact on my house. However, my adaptation plan considered the valuable tips from the actor adapt resource center and proposes the installation of guttering guards to reduce leaves piling which can lead to water overflows and roof leakages. The water shortage hazard assessment showed that my house should face a major impact and would be unable to meet our water needs and water demands if we lost water from wasp for two weeks. Our water storage consists of a system which we have not been able to use for many years with a faulty pump and leakage inside the system. The solution we have been using is collecting water in buckets flowing down the slope by gravity to an outlet pipe from the system since our house is constructed on a gentle slope. This is definitely not a sustainable climate resilient solution because when the water level in the system is too low there is no water flowing from the outlet pipe. The water storage resiliency measures presented in my adaptation plan is for my family to reactivate our system by replacing the damaged water pump re-sealing and restoring the flow and sidewalls of the system of task to improve our current water storage capacity to meet essential water needs after the passage of a possible category 5 hurricane. Even if we took measures to ration water and use simple daily tasks like sanitation and using water for essential needs it will still prove difficult to sustain water for a period of two weeks. Thanks to the SLDB climate adaptation financing facility my family will implement my home adaptation plan and proposal mitigation measures to improve the climate resiliency of our house. Hi everyone, my name is Nia Joseph and I'm a proud student of the Cassius Comprehensive Secondary School I found out about the Act 2 Adapt competition from a friend and I saw it as a great opportunity to get some much-needed work done on my home. After months of hard work I emerged as one of the top three finalists of the medium vulnerability category I could not be more excited. Now I'll be taking you around my room to show you why this is important to me. Let's start off with the roof area since it is in need of the most attention. The house has been around since 1996 and has survived one fire in 2007 since being built the roof has never been repaired after the fire some new wood and a fresh coat of paint was added to the house no repairs were done to the roof and to this day the following can be observed when it rains water drips through the ceiling in this photo you can clearly see the water stains on the wall from the outside the wood from the fascia boards has rotated as seen in the following photos the roof is exposed to the elements and is slightly lifted in certain areas if hit by a category 5 hurricane we are definitely at risk of a wind hazard the rafters and fascia boards need new wood and the holes in the roof need patching the roof also does not have any guttering or any downspots drainage around the house looks like this we also have a major drainage issue which causes the downstairs area to flood during heavy rainfall since water seeps through the concrete the money will be used to address the drainage and roof issue once again my name is Nia Joseph and I would like to thank you for this opportunity thank you to our finalists you have all done a stellar job ladies and gentlemen a round of applause for everyone it is now the time we have all been waiting for the announcement of the winners yes are we excited are you excited alright let's get this done so now we are going to be doing our first category which is the low vulnerability category to present the awards I would like to invite Jamal Francis the president of the St. Lucia Association of Architects to take a stand right over here and the announcement will be made by Loretta Rufo the PPCR coordinator climate investment funds and she will be announcing the third and second place winners for the low vulnerability category Loretta over to you I hope I hope you are all staying well thank you so much to St. Lucia Development Bank and the DVRP project team for inviting me in this awarding ceremony I would also like to congratulate them for this very commendable initiative I am very inspired by the videos that was shown earlier and it tells me that we have a hope for a sustainable future because the young people have the great potential to instill transformational climate resilience when they are empowered to become agents of change the videos show that they are driven, they are creative and they are bold, their imagination and determination have no bounds and so I am here and I am very pleased to present the award for the second and third place winners for the low vulnerability category so let's start with the third place and the third place winner is Mr. Kai Armstrong from Bue Fort Comprehensive Secondary School he submitted under form 3 and his prize would be a computer tablet so let's give around the applause to Mr. Kai Armstrong now for the second place under the low vulnerability category the winner is Mr. Dante Eugene from St. Mary's College and he submitted under form 2 congratulations Dante and his prize would be the same as the first place winner will be announced by Pascal LeDois the program officer for engineering infrastructure and disaster risk reduction for the European Union's delegation to Barbados and the eastern Caribbean states Pascal yes thank you and good morning everyone from Barbados we are very great to be with you in St. Lucia this morning to celebrate the education day with this award ceremony a competition which is also perfectly illustrating and supporting our activities in disaster risk reduction in the region so I am pleased to announce the winner of the low vulnerability category who is a very young lady Mrs. Megan Francis from St. Joseph Convent School who submitted a very interesting fabulous project in form 1 so Megan will receive a computer and as we know computer is very very interesting and useful in the education sector but to practice is even better so she will also receive a cash prize to support her own adaptation projects as a value of 5000 EC EC dollars so congratulations Megan so please to call the school principal and the supervising teacher who is sister Rufina Donut who was accompanying Megan alongside this project and she will receive a cash prize of 1000 sorry I am a bit fast so this is the 5000 EC dollars cash prize congratulations Megan and I must mention here that there was an allocation of 1000 cash prize for supervising teachers but in this category only one student listed a supervising teacher but with that being said the bank as well as our partners are extremely pleased to note that perhaps with less teacher involvement this translated to high parental or community involvement and that is the hope of the actor that challenged it is intended to be a learning and empowering experience not just for the students but also the decision makers in the home and also the people in the community and so we are aware that there were severe disruptions to the delivery of our students for our education for the online system due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it has made it challenging for the teachers and so we thank all of the teachers who have assisted our students and we look forward to our next phase which is the implementation for a lot more community teacher involvement and so now we move on to the medium vulnerability category I would like to invite Joel Lindberg the executive member of the association of professional engineers to present the award and it will be the third, second and first place will be announced by Bogdan Stefanesco the team leader for the green economy energy and resilience project for the European Union delegation to Barbados and the eastern Caribbean states is Mr. Lindberg with us ok in that case I will ask the deputy chair of the St. Lucia Development Bank to fill in Mr. Raymond if you could please Bogdan over to you Good morning, thank you very much Mr. Stefanesco Good morning again from Barbados I really feel honored and privileged to announce the finalists for this competition and also I'm happy and proud that the European Union supports this excellent initiative by the KLEB and the DVRP project team to involve the brilliant minds of the young ones in our global fight against climate change I think this is extremely important but to get to the to the point allow me to congratulate on behalf of the European Union the winners and all the participants in fact to all the categories of this competition in the medium vulnerability category so on third place winner of a computer tablet from the fifth form of the view for comprehensive secondary school Miss Bernela François a round of applause for Bernela congratulations on second place winner as well as a computer tablet from Leon has comprehensive secondary school from the fifth form Dishon Baptiste congratulations Dishon excellent project a round of applause for Dishon thank you and now the first place from the fourth form of Kastris comprehensive secondary school Miss Nian Joseph the winner a computer prize for funding her project and a smart TV for her school a round of applause for Nian Joseph congratulations very well done use it well and put your projects and your ideas to practice and I would also like to call upon the principal of the Kastris comprehensive secondary school Miss Marva Daniel to accept the school prize the vice principal a round of applause and congratulations to the winners of this category thank you Bogdan and now the final category the high vulnerability category I will ask Mr. Raymond to maintain his position where he is as the giver of the awards the presenter of the awards and I would like to invite my mid-change and disaster risk management coordinator at the OECS commission to announce the winners of this final category thank you Alicia and good day everyone congratulations to everyone for all the effort and without further ado the third place in this category goes to Miss Ethny Brown St. Joseph's Convent from form 2 and she is going to win a tablet the second place Miss Atali English St. Joseph's Convent she will also win from 2 and she will win a tablet as well and I think we have a first place winner Miss Ayanna Descartes St. Joseph's Convent from 3 and she is going to win a computer funding for her home adaptation project which is going to be of $10,000 and a smart TV for a school and we also call it the principal to accept the school prize school's principal or her representative now I wish to announce that since the St. Joseph's Convent has also won the top prize in the low vulnerability category which also comes with a TV the school has the option of selecting another piece of equipment of comparable value so congratulations to all the winners thank you thank you Chris Finn thank you to all of our announcers and presenters and again hearty congratulations to all of our winners and to all of our finalists we have seen your hard work and we appreciate you and we are looking forward to joining you on the next stage of the Act to Adapt Challenge implementation stage from all of the submissions it is clear that everyone understood what the assignment is in assessing disaster risk vulnerabilities of your particular projects now joining us is Ilad Shenfield the senior disaster risk management specialist and a task team leader for the disaster vulnerability reduction project at the World Bank welcome Ilad thank you and good morning everybody I'm honored to join you here today for the SFDB Act to Adapt Competition award ceremony I wish I could be there in person but unfortunately I'm calling from the very cold Washington DC first I would like to recognize the presence of representatives of the competition partners from St. Lucia Development Bank the Ministry of Education OECS Commission Climate Investment Fund the European Union delegation to Barbados the Department of Economics Ministry of Finance Economic Development and the Youth Economy and of course the colleagues and friends from the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project on behalf of the World Bank Group I'm so proud to have the opportunity to work with all of you on this very important initiative and we truly hope that our technical and financial assistance to the development of the app and the competition as a whole will not mark the end of this partnership and we hope and look forward to providing continuing support to such important initiative on a personal note I have to say that I was so inspired like many other speakers today to see the winners and the participants in the SFDB Act to Adapt Competition and also to listen to the different speakers today I think that we all agree that there cannot be any development without resilience especially in a region such as the Eastern Caribbean exposed to a wide range of shocks sadly it appears that the challenge faced by the Caribbean will continue as vulnerability to climate change is growing in the region and around the world for me one of the core pillars of climate resilience is our ability as government, development partners, policy makers, nations and as human beings to adapt and to reduce our vulnerability to climate change and disaster impact and yes as was said by the speaker from the Ministry of Education the change is in your hand, is in our hand and for me this competition really shows that we all have a role to play in adaptation that we all have something to contribute in this effort and there is no need to give us this mandate inspired by the hard work of the students and their engagement you are the next generation to lead our fight in climate crisis yes we do have winners in this competition but the true achievement is the participation is thinking about the solutions is about implementing them and it is the understanding the awareness that we hold every role to play as many speakers and as I mentioned throughout the day the SLDB DVRP teams through this act to adapt school competition have exceeded their mandate by not only increasing nationwide awareness of the CAF and its benefit but also introducing students to the practical steps they can take to build resilience in their homes and implement measures to better protect themselves and their families in the future as I mentioned I'm proud to be part of this initiative and I'm so inspired by the hard work of all the people involved I hope to continue this partnership from the World Bank Group to ensure that the learning will not end with this award ceremony finally I know that I should not mention any individual names and I know that this was a true collective effort and I would still like to say special thanks to Kerry Cox from the World Bank team who led this initiative from our team and together with the excellent work of the DVRP team the SLDB management were able to bring this vision into life thank you so much Thank you very much Elad and you were right we all have something to contribute to adaptation there has been so much work to get and to recognize all of our partners in this journey I would like to invite Diane Fossoir the CAF officer at the St. Lucia Development Bank to give the vote of thanks Diane? Good morning everybody on behalf of the board of directors management and staff of the SLDB we would like to thank you both our both virtual and physical audience for participating for your participation and attendance in this very auspicious event where we are able to award prizes to winners of the SLDB act to adapt school competition without your presence today this ceremony would not have been a success as we close this ceremony we would like to highlight some of the individuals and organizations who have really contributed to making this competition possible and ultimately a success let me first say this competition was a combined effort of several partners both local and original first and foremost we wish to recognize the disaster vulnerability reduction project under the department of economic development the OECS commission the department of education the association of professional engineers of St Lucia and the St Lucia Institute of Architects who provided their support both technical and otherwise throughout the journey of this competition we wish to thank our development partners including the World Bank the climate investment fund who provided funding for the climate adaptation financing facility the CAF the European Union through the Africa Caribbean Pacific European Union natural disaster reduction program who provided funding and technical support for the development of the act to adapt the competition webpage and marketing and communication material we wish to recognize the former managing director of the SLDB who brought that we should work with the schools to create that awareness of climate change issues he provided his support all the way we recognized the persistence the hard work and dedication of the act to adapt competition team including the DVRP coordinator miss Angela Burnett who developed the concept note led the development of the app content and design supported student engagement provided technical assistance throughout the competition we wish to recognize Kerry Cork senior knowledge management and communication specialist at the World Bank who provided guidance and support to the team who liaise with the development partners thereby enabling the engagement of supporting consultants for the competition and who also provided support in the development and marketing of the communications material for the competition we recognize the Sennlucha Development Bank management team and the technical team who led the competition and who coordinated the logistics including yours truly Mr. Filbert Francis our business development and marketing manager we also wish to recognize the support of the DVRP team including Miss Cheryl Marfrey project coordinator who encouraged the competition and Miss Martha Sharon Charles DVRP administrative officer who helped to facilitate early student feedback on the app to adapt app we wish to recognize and thank the app app to adapt web developer Mr. Dimitrius Charles for his excellent work on the app we also thank Mr. Anthony Harrow the technical the technical manager at the SLDB who provided technical guidance on the app to adapt app and helped to identify that capable individual Mr. Charles who would later develop the app we wish to recognize and thank Miss Jeanette George education officer at Camdo who served as an active liaison with the department of education and the schools we wish to thank and recognize the communications consultant Mrs. Barbara Jacobsmall for her tremendous support of the competition special thanks goes to Mr. Joel Paul a very young and promising local individual who developed the jingle for the competition Mr. Ted Saniford a graphic artist who utilized his creative skills in developing all the visuals for the competition including the competition poster, the graphic for the video and the social media cards all members of the association of professional engineers of Saint Lucia who provided feedback for or contributed content to the app to adapt app including special thanks to Mr. Joel Lindberg and Mr. Alva Francis special thanks to the World Bank team who also provided feedback and contributed to the content of the app including Elad Shenfield Rad Phillip MacCanty Karen Charles Melanie Camps Priscilla Phelps Kerry Cox Cynthia Linero Molena Nigel Wakeham Marcel Giovanni Mike Fedac and Christopher Williams the team at the OECS commission who developed the carbon footprint calculator embedded in the app to adapt app in particular Mr. Martin and Judith Ephraim Mr. Jamal Francis president of the Saint Lucia Institute of Architects who partnered on the development of the instructional video on the seven features of the hurricane resilient roof to guide students through the wind hazard assessment section of the app making it very easy for students to follow Mr. OECS Alika Frederick who narrated the act to adapt app video tutorial thanks to our social media consultant Ms. Petia Severe who provided special support for our social media platforms and keeping them alive and having active and fresh content we also expressed thanks to the DVRP public awareness and communications officer who supported the competition marketing overtime Mr. Lucia's doctor and Ms. Malika Thompson thanks to the GIS team for providing technical support for who seen the ceremony many thanks to the teachers who participated in the planning workshops which we organized to ensure that they were familiar with the competition the judgment roles and were capable of providing assistance to students through the home assessments and developing their proposals special thanks to the students who participated in the initial testing of the app making the competition what it is to do the app went through multiple rounds of testing prior to its official launch and used by the students special thanks to the principals and supporting teachers who supported and accommodated us in hosting presentations to students at assemblies and facilitating the online help sessions with the students and parents thanks to the team of judges who conducted the first round of judging of the proposals which we had 36 proposals submitted judges included Ms. Giannati George Ms. Ayanna James Claudius Antio Claudius Cornelius Gideon Princess Cordria, Princess Bounette Colleen Foshie Joseph Jason Carlton special thanks to our team of judges who are the audacious work of making the final selection of students under the various competition categories final judges included yours truly Ms. Angela Bounette Jamal Francis, Christopher Wyatt for Zana Leo we also say thanks to the parents who provided the support to the students and assisted them in putting together the climate adaptation plans this was what the competition was about the whole parent involvement making it a family affair finally we say thank you to the winners of this competition for taking up the challenge and making history as the first winners of the SLDB Act to Adapt School Competition Challenge we will be working closely with you as you implement your adaptation plans once again we thank you to our virtual and physical audience for your participation in this ceremony and we wish you a pleasant day we also invite you to some refreshments at the end of the ceremony just one aspect of surprise to you guys, we would like to really highlight the individuals who actually made this competition the success that it is we would thank you Dan, thank you and as you can tell there are so many people to thank there's so much appreciation and so yes they did throw something on me last minute a little bit of a curve ball and so I am roping in Darryl Raymond who is the deputy chair of the St. Lucia Development Bank because if we're going to do this we're going to be surprised together and so we have two recipients who are virtual and so this lovely plaque as you can see goes to Mrs. Barbara Jacobs Small for her role in the SLDB Act to Adapt School Competition and so I will just hand it to Mr. Raymond so Barbara when you return to St. Lucia you can call Mr. Raymond for your plaque of appreciation our second plaque goes to Angela Burnett for all of her hard work and dedication and commitment to this project and we have heard quite a bit about our app developer Demetrius Charles can you please come up to receive your plaque of appreciation ladies and gentlemen this is the brains behind the app and we have heard of his dedication and his commitment to our climate project and we speak about teacher commitment and I cannot think of someone more deserving for a show of appreciation than Giannetti George education officer come do head Giannetti George always dedicated thank you very much yes and for the record she is sharing it with the National Science Association now we have officially come to the end of our program all of the winners are asked to stay in the hall so you can be photographed it has truly been an exciting occasion and we can see how much and how far our collaboration on the SLDB's act to adapt school competition challenge has really yielded results and we can all play a part in our sustainable development agenda if you take away one thing from everything that has been said here today you can play a part in the sustainable development agenda on behalf of the Saint Lucia Development Bank the government of Saint Lucia and the organization of eastern Caribbean states I am Alicia Ali reminding you that we are one community growing together goodbye take care and be safe