 Honorable Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister of St. Lucia. His Excellency, Peter Chen, Ambassador of Taiwan to St. Lucia. Staff of the Embassy of Taiwan. Officials of the International American Foundation joining us virtually. Project Officer of the Jeff. Ms. Catherine Celis, President of Raise Your Voice, St. Lucia Inc. Directors of Raise Your Voice, St. Lucia Inc. Honored guests and grant recipients. Ms. Raisa Joseph, Director of the Folk Research Center. Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister. Good morning and welcome to this grant awards presentation by Raise Your Voice, St. Lucia Inc. My name is Mondee Lewis and I'm here in my official capacity as a Director of Raise Your Voice, St. Lucia Inc. This is a very honored time for us to be here. I know it's the Christmas festivities, but Raise Your Voice has done it again with its outreach to the community, to the most vulnerable amongst us, to our women especially. Our women who drive our economies and we are grateful for this grant today and also for the tireless work of the organization and its directors. I would like you to give a round of applause for Ms. Catherine Searles and all the directors at Raise Your Voice. I know this agro-processing facility is one step and today you get grants to micro farmers and the training and I know that is going to be really an impactful way in terms of food security in St. Lucia. Something that the Prime Minister has been championing 25% reduction in our food import bill by the year 2025. So this occasion ties in very well with the mandate of the government of St. Lucia. I'm sorry, I cannot help myself but tie in the work that Raise Your Voice does with what the government of St. Lucia does given my dual roles. So you will excuse me if I make a reference to what this government is doing and I know Raise Your Voice is a supporter of the work of the government of St. Lucia because what we want is a better St. Lucia, a safer St. Lucia, a happier St. Lucia for all of us. With that, I would like to welcome Ms. Alberta Ritual, another director of Raise Your Voice St. Lucia for a presentation on behalf of the organization. Ms. Ritual. Good morning. Good morning. Protocol haven't been established by our director, Ms. Monty Lewis. I would begin with welcoming all our participants this morning. In their relentless pursuit of economic empowerment for marginalized and vulnerable women in St. Lucia, Raise Your Voice St. Lucia Inc. has emerged as a stalwart advocate for the rights and well-being of women and children facing the scourge of gender-based violence and systematic barriers in accessing justice. A transformative chapter in this journey unfolds thanks to the generous grant of the Inter-American Foundation propelling the organization towards its goal of fostering sustainable livelihoods. Notably, this milestone is realized through the provision of small grants to 20 female micro-business owners strategically directed towards the vital sectors of agriculture and agro-processing, pivotal players in the economic landscape of this island of St. Lucia. These micro-grants transcend mere financial contributions. They stand as... Raise Your Voice St. Lucia Inc. guided by a vision of empowerment, orchestrates a combination of targeted training programs and financial support. The aim is clay, and that is to fortify the capacities of these women entrepreneurs by endowing them with essential skills, knowledge and resources. This initiative is not merely about overcoming economic hurdles, but rather it is about empowering women to become drivers of positive change in their communities. The strategic investment in agriculture and agro-processing align seamlessly with the overarching goal of creating sustainable and resilient businesses, effectively dismantling the cycle of vulnerability and fostering a more inclusive and equitable society. Today's grant ceremony is not merely a transaction of financial assistance and we want to make that clear. It is a pivotal moment in the journey towards economic empowerment but more importantly sustainable development. For these 20 women, 20 participants who are seated here today, it signifies more than the tangible support they receive. It marks the initiation of a network of solidarity and empowerment. The ripple effect of these micro-grants extend far beyond individual businesses, permeating the wider community and society. It reinforces the powerful notion that when women are economically empowered, the entire societies flourish. In the ongoing mission of us at Radio Voice Inc, these initiatives serve as a beacons of hope transforming marginalized women from victims into empowered agents of change in their communities. As we delve into the practicalities of our approach, the provision of targeted training and comprehensive toolkits takes center stage in our initiative. Empowering our grant recipients goes beyond financial assistance, as we said before. It encompasses equipping them with the knowledge and tools that are essential for their journey so that they're no longer dependent on us at Raise Your Voice or any other person in society. It provides them with all the tools necessary to equip them with micro-business success. And so our training addresses a common challenge faced by micro-business owners, which is the lack of robust financial records. By instilling the importance of meticulous documentation, we provide these entrepreneurs with the skills to create a solid foundation for their businesses. The ability to systematically record sales, expenses, and production, not only forsters transparency and accountability, but positions these women as credible candidates for further funding opportunities and obtaining loans from financial institutions. In a landscape where documentation gaps often impede access to financial resources, our commitment to empowering these small and micro-business owners with the tools to articulate their business narrative is a pivotal step towards fostering resilience, growth, and sustainability in their enterprises. As we celebrate this glorious chapter in the journey towards economic empowerment and sustainable development, let it be known that our commitment extends beyond this grant ceremony. It is a commitment to nurturing lasting change, one empowered woman at a time. Through empowerment, documentation, and community impact, we stand to resolute, at raise your voice, in our mission to be architects of positive transformation in the lives of marginalized women, fostering a legacy of resilience and prosperity in this small island of Senusia. I thank you. I don't want to single out Miss Celius because she told me she's just a bystander today, but I think all the directors here and those who are abroad and at work, they know of the constant, I call it contact, that Catherine has with all of us to get it done and to get it done for women like you, even for women like ourselves. Sometimes we get bogged down with our own lives, but Catherine makes sure she instills in us the need to give back, to give over our time, our professions, you have two lawyers here, I'm sure they have cases in the High Court right now, but they are here to give our time, our resources to the work to developing a better Senusia. And someone I know who works relentlessly, every day he says to me, Monde, we are doing this for the people and if any day that I forget and think it's about me, he will surely humble me and remind me what we come to work every day to do. So with that, I would like to welcome Honorable Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister of St. Lucia. Thank you very much, Monde, good morning. First of all, let me apologize for my lateness. We run small countries, but sometimes we get involved in things that are supposed to be for big countries. Since we are small countries, we have again this morning, in fact, I'm still involved in even any keynote address after hearing what Ms. Richelot said. Ms. Richelot comes from the fine ancestry of a legal luminary who, happened to be at school with me, but he was brighter than me. And let me also welcome all the politicians and Ms. Liza of the Folk Research Center, an advocate for everything women, literally everything women. Let me recognize Liza. I want to really congratulate you for being here and the staff of the Office of the Prime Minister, the Press Secretary and the staff. Let me, first of all, congratulate Raise Your Voice for this initiative. Raise Your Voice has been an NGO that has blazed the trail, blazed the trail in that always reserving the right to make their voice heard, to see what they believe at the time is right and important. Raise Your Voice has always has a conscience, a conscience that speaks for rights of people. And even if sometimes that these words seem to be in disagreement with the powers that be, I can assure Raise Your Voice that my government accepts a country view. We accept an opposing view. We accept different and new ideas. We expect people to have different ideas and we never add a personal touch or personalities or vengeance or revenge for personal ideas or for ideologies that do not seem to be what we think is right at the time. So I want to encourage Raise Your Voice to continue to advocate, to continue to speak up for the rights of people, the rights of women, continue to speak up. The government will accept it. We will try our best not to cross-freads with you. So there's never, ever going to be any with job, subventions or things of that nature. My government doesn't operate in that manner. We accept opposition. We accept people to have different ideas. But it's about you, the ladies here this morning. Yesterday I went to a honey, some people who were getting involved in honey production. And I was struck by the number of women who were there. Actually, it was a regional workshop and the number of women that were involved in agriculture and in the production of honey was encouraging. And this morning to see 20 women involved in agriculture. It's even more encouraging. I think you deserve a round of applause. The business of food security is more important than many of us seem to see. Sometime ago I made a point about the use of bananas. And as usual, people who know better but who always try to score very cheap points tried to pretend as if I was speaking nonsense. And what was most hopeful about it is that a little child was used to go on television and see the prime minister wants to eat banana oil and banana this and that. And it was sad for people who understand the problem with food security. The food security problem, more people are suffering from a lack of food now than before. So instead of improving as far as food security is concerned we are getting worse. Add that to climate change. Add that to the droughts and the floods and the hurricanes and you'll see the problem we are in as far as feeding people are concerned. So when a prime minister gets up and he sells to people, try to grow more bananas so that you can protect yourself and feed yourself and your families. And selfish politicians try to make a joke of it is really sad, not sad for me but sad for the people who try to make a joke of it. I spoke some time about cassava. Cassava is a power food. Cassava is a power food. Cassava, sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes are six week crops. Cassava that you convert into several things. Again, for political reasons. It sounded as if I was being either foolish or deliberate. But in my business I've learned that the truth always sets you free. I've learned that in this business and seeing you this morning and knowing that some organizations have decided that to work with raise your voice to be able to give you these grants of 500 years dollars each to help you. It really makes my heart feel good because I see the message is going forward and I see that you as ladies are taking the challenge. Women in agriculture, your history would show you that women were involved in agriculture from a time of, from the dark days of slavery. Women are always involved in agriculture. And when we moved from agriculture in terms of small crop agriculture to sugarcane and bananas, women are always involved, still involved. And now for you to have your own businesses is encouraging. I want you as your guest speaker says to understand you have a business. Don't see yourself as probably somebody who just plants crops, you have a business. You have a business. And in a business, you must keep records. In a business, you must act like a business person. You must try to add value to the products that you are growing. And in the agro-processing lab that I know is being built now, I think there can be a marriage between your crops and the lab. So you produce for the lab. But that means you have to have records. And records are simple. You have to keep records. You have to understand that your business can grow into a massive business. Agriculture is changing. The days of large farms are over. Not over, but you can produce in small spaces. And that's what's important. If I can tell you too, if I can speak out of tune, this year in the budget, I'm going to have a special line for advancement in adding technology to agriculture. I'm going to have a special budget line, particularly for women and young people. And I'm putting my friend the ambassador notice. That will need some extra budgetary funds. I'm putting them on notice because we have to balance the budget and then we need to do certain things. So next year, next budget, we're going to have a special line for advancement in agriculture because we have to feed ourselves. We must feed ourselves. So I want to wish you all the best. I want to apologize again for being late. And if I run out, it's because I've got to do some stuff which is a little more than the infrastructure. Thank you very much and thanks to Rachel for this. Thank you very much, Honorable Prime Minister. And in another life, he would have been the one, he's a management consultant and he really did audit businesses tell you about your bookkeeping and how to run your business. So who knows? Maybe he'll facilitate a session for you one day because we cannot afford him. I'd raise your voice. I'm just putting that out there. We cannot afford him, but maybe he will, who knows? Who knows? He might volunteer his time to us. But thank you again, Prime Minister, for addressing us. I would now like to move on to the presentation of awards and invite Prime Minister, Honorable Philip J. Pierre to help us with our first set of presentations. Good morning to all. I'm now starting the list of the grant participants. Chantal Chollery. Adaric Aisun. Aisun. Adaric Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Aisun. Markel Charles, Kirlene Johnny, Melissa Shalmine, Paula Joseph Berthia, Albertha John, Grace Edward, Andrea Eileen, Eileen.