 Founder and Executive Director of Helen's Daughter, St. Lucian Keflin Karoo, has achieved another career milestone. She has become the first Caribbean national and youth to be appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, ICA. More from her, Madi Mark. The Government of St. Lucia has congratulated Keflin Karoo on being bestowed the title of ICA Goodwill Ambassador. Karoo was awarded in recognition for her contribution to capacity development, training and empowerment of rural women farmers. The Inter-American Institute of Cooperation on Agriculture, ICA, confers the title of Goodwill Ambassador to individuals who, based on their personal merit, identify a social cause and displace social commitment and willingness to participate in activities relevant to the Institute's mission. Keflin Karoo is the first person from the Caribbean and the first youth to receive this award. Miss Keflin Karoo, Founder and Executive Director of Helen's Daughters, a grassroots non-profit organization, has demonstrated her commitment to uplifting rural women by providing training, mentorship and support for the marketing of their agricultural products through e-commerce and other means. Her innovative approaches to contributing to economic empowerment and sustainable livelihoods among rural stakeholders, including women and youth, have been recognized nationally, regionally and internationally. Miss Karoo's work is aligned closely with the mission of ICA and we therefore consider her to be most worthy of being conferred with the title of ICA Goodwill Ambassador. Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Hon. Philip J. Pier, at the virtual ceremony honoring Keflin Karoo, pledged the Government of St. Lucia's commitment to collaborating with Helen's daughters to boost St. Lucia's food security and the lives and livelihoods of the citizenry. An organization like Helen's Daughters, by its very name and its very leadership, is a welcome change in the agricultural industry. For young people, and particularly young women like Ambassador Karoo, to be able to put together synergies so that we can have an organization like Helen's Daughters is really admirable and the Government of St. Lucia will do whatever we can do, as I heard my minister say, to encourage that kind of development and to create an expansion of Helen's Daughters so that the country can benefit. Executive Director of Helen's Daughters and ICA's newly appointed Goodwill Ambassador Keflin Karoo, highlighting the importance of agriculture and food security, especially during this COVID-19 era, explained how organization emerged from a need to rebrand the agricultural sector. When I started Helen's Daughters, it was seen as a noble pastime, pastime, a hobby even. Empowering rural women, how nice, how sweet. What we don't understand in St. Lucia in the region and the world at large is that the seeds of empowerment in agriculture have the ability to allow undervalued farmers and farm-hers to get a renewed invigoration in the sector. It's allowed from what I've seen, it's allowed battered women to find a freedom from their partners through the farms and it's allowed youth, like myself, to hold their heads up high when choosing to become a farmer. Let's face it, the training programs are plentiful, the technology exists in agriculture, but what are we really doing to make the agricultural sector attractive to women and youth? Agriculture is in need of a major rebranding and while we blame youth for the lack of interest in the sector, we have not been able to support or showcase successful farmers and farm-hers, but we continue to expect the youth to enter a sector fraught with instability, a negative perception and an overall lack of support. Helen's Daughters over the past three years has trained over 300 rural women in sustainable agricultural practices to building their agricultural businesses. The entity continues to promote the development and empowerment of rural women in agriculture through education. From the Government Information Service, Humedy Mark reporting.