 Those that are in favor of giving NTN 60 seconds AI Those that are for country opinions, you know NTN I think the nose have it. I think the nose have it Certainly ahead of yourself leaders Let us stand let us pray For those who are Catholics among us you wish to cross yourself and in my father and the son the Holy Spirit Every father we give thanks for life and the gifts of life Especially the gifts of reason and intuition That we will be able to make more sense of our world enjoy it and protect the sustainability of our physical environment We give thanks for Jeff and the work that's been doing in protecting the sustainability of our environment and the elevation of poverty in our midst We give particular thanks to those who have served and continue to serve Jeff selflessly and dedicatedly May they continue to do so so that Jeff remains a platform for innovation and entrepreneurship among our young people We pray that today's proceedings will be conducted in a smooth and effective manner and that by the end of it We may be encouraged to lend even greater support to Jeff and his pursuits of its worthy objectives We ask this to Christ our Lord Standing please as I invite miss Rosemary Matra to lead us in the national anthem Gives me great pleasure on behalf of the National Steering Committee of the global environment facility To welcome you all to this ceremony or event which marks the 11th anniversary of the Jeff's small grants program in St. Lucia Honourable Minister Sean Andre Edward Minister of Education Sustainable Development Innovation Science and Technology and vocational training His grace Archbishop Kelvin Felix I'm sorry Is grace is grace Archbishop Gabriel Marseille dame Callie open easy Governor General Emerita Ambassador Peter Chen Mr. Amber Charles chairperson of the National Steering Committee of the Jeff Especially invited guests Ladies and gentlemen, I Welcome you to this event as I said earlier. I Want to note what you might Have thought was an anomaly Granted that we have his grace with us and Pastor Stephen That the invocation was delivered by Reverend Jamarine. I Think you might take that as an indication of Everestus is standing in the Roman Catholic Church As I said, I will I will try to Ensure that we make up some time in the event So I want without much to do to invite my good friend Mr. Amber Charles Who's a chairperson of the NSC to deliver some welcome remarks. It's a try to turn simple initiatives in communities make them into noble Programs and of course get tremendous outcomes out of them So in your report You would realize that we have to Simple things like great info reeling to cassava processing we have turned the description of food paths and hikes into trails and we have been doing work a lot of work with the Community who normally produce honey and Going into the byproducts of Honey such as epitoxins But in addition to this Jeff is helping to increase and improve the capacity of the communities Who do that work? So our report will give you a detailed description in addition to the statistics of our outputs and our national coordination very fond of statistics we try to focus on ensuring that we bring out the innovative potential of all Saint Lucians and Jeff has been supporting a lot of work on inventions which lead to solutions to our problems Which face us today? We try to encourage critical thinking We try to encourage communities to go back to the resources and look at the resources in new ways We take this opportunity today to thank and all the members of the NSC Who have worked with us since the inception of the program in Saint Lucia over a decade ago? Some of us are some of them are here with us but also to welcome the young people who receive you this morning who are The transition and the future of our program perhaps in the next few years I'm sure one or two of them will become members and probably even lead the National Steering Committee We also want to take the opportunity to thank the government of Saint Lucia I was hoping the minister would hear this while he was here, but it will be recorded for the tremendous cooperation through the work that all the related agencies are doing with us Department of Innovation, Ministry of Sustainable Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Education and many others With this very brief remarks, Mr. Chair, I would like to again once again welcome everyone to this special event and hope that you live here fulfilled and I invite you as well to to view and share With the exhibitors outside who will be here throughout the course of the day. Thank you very much and again welcome Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman As you noted the Jeff Small Grants program which I consider to be one of Saint Lucia's best kept secrets The amazing work that the Jeff has done over its life in the country is just outstanding And it's an honor to be associated with the Jeff I think when the history of the sustainable development movement in Saint Lucia is written It is inevitable that the name Giles Romulus will feature prominently in that history I want to ask you before we invite Giles to join us to applaud applaud his inestimable contribution to the conservation movement in Saint Lucia to the sustainable development of Saint Lucia for his selfless contribution many long days and nights that he has put in and And Giles, thank you on behalf of all of us. I invite you to join us and present your report Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this presentation of Triana report for the Small Grants program in Saint Lucia I would accept the protocol and welcome the Honourable Minister Who fit only has all the important portfolios in his long job description that is summarizing the Jeff Small Grants program So how fitting so that you are here today Trinidad was not to be Saint Lucia was. My good friend Barrymore PSA in agriculture, Masada. Welcome friends Faith based organizations represented by the senior officials of those organizations Our colleagues, long-time colleagues in the environmental movement members of the National Stein Committee Ladies and gentlemen Three years ago when we adjourned at this very place Nobody had heard of COVID We left with an excitement that we'll be back in this very place the following year Unfortunately, this is not to be we are in our third year where we have not presented the report to the government and people of Saint Lucia But this I apologize, but today we intend to give you a full synopsis of what we have done What we are doing and what we intend to do The table of contents our presentation today We will give you a basic introduction to Jeff so you can understand how we operate We'll talk a little bit about a country program strategy Which is the framework within which we operate and has to be approved both locally and at the UN We give you the context in which we work over the three years that we have been here Then we're going to the results section of the presentation with the investment the quantitative aspect of the investment and then the qualitative results Which are important for if we're talking sustainable development some conclusions and we'll end with Questions and discussions from all of you. I hope the presentation will stimulate you and Make you become even greater patriots of this Helen of the West Indies. I have I'm unashamedly a patriot of Saint Lucia born breadwraiths and what we do we do with the threat of eyebrow to bring this country to heights Unriched before In fact, I always say I love the old Star Trek saying the bold to go where no Person has gone before I once elucidate bold to go where no country has gone before and in this presentation I hope that you'll understand why I say this The just small guns program established in 1982 1990 to sorry at the Earth Summit in Brazil Currently has a hundred and twenty seven countries So we basically almost every country least developed country in the world small island developing state We are part of the family of the Jeff Globally as you know, there's a big Jeff for over a million years dollars There is the medium Jeff up to a million dollars and there's a small guns program That goes up to 50,000 years dollars for most projects and from time to time strategic project we know of a hundred and fifty thousand years dollars I Must tell you in parts of the world where the Jeff small guns program has worked for many many wires and solution Particularly in Africa. We are known as the people's Jeff and I hope one day solutions will recognize us as people's job Jeff as you PUNDP is implemented by the United Nations development program Executed by the United Nations office of project services that tells you the complexity of reporting that I have to do two different organizations from two different parts of the UN but the small guns program globally over the last 31 years has implemented over 27,000 projects in 127 countries $1.67 billion of investment and we have implemented those projects in the Jeff focal areas of biodiversity conservation Climate change mitigation and adaptation protection of international waters prevention of land degradation sustainable forest management and chemicals and waste a Basic structure again to tell you the complexity in which I work the World Bank is where the Jeff is located That's the source of the funds UNDP is the implementing agency Unopsies the executing agency from within the UN system. We have the central program management team which I report directly to and We've been a regional country. There's a UNDP country team Usually led by the resident representative and you're going to be seen our later presenting and In each country there's a SGP country program That's led in this case by two country by two two persons Stephanie and myself And then we have the national stand committee of volunteers Holy volunteers giving the effort giving the time and being harassed continuously by me and I'm sure members including DIMM Will miss me when they leave my constant harassment of their Of the assistants. Thank you very much The country program strategy is the document we formulate every four years after consultation with the government of seducia civil society organizations bilateral and multilateral donors That document brings together the main areas of focus to the period in question and we in Jeff seven at this time It also forms the framework for monitoring and evaluation as well. And of course Where I was coming I was reading the document from the WHO and they were saying 20 years Before 2004 they had discovered that the chemical contents of a newly born child Was something like 50 times that of children born in the 50 years before So if that was so bad then I do not tell you what the chemical composition of our bloodstreams are today The amount of toxic chemicals we have in the environment in our water in our soils in the air That is worrying that is critically worrying and When you talk to our oncologist in Saint Lucia, he will tell you the complexity of cancers He's seen across East coast of Saint Lucia and also from children We also have cross-cutting themes identified for Saint Lucia research and innovation very important education and awareness gender capacity building alternative livelihoods and social inclusion CPS is approved at two levels Nationally by the National Steering Committee that which is government in Saint Lucia has a representative and also by the team at the UN in New York I was talking about COVID COVID is the context in which we operated for the last three years The first recorded case of COVID in Saint Lucia was on the 13th March 2020 and that in By the 30th of June 2020, we had 19 cases by December 2020 We had 350 free cases and five deaths by the end of 2020 The World Bank in a study of Saint Lucia at that time noted that 65.2 percent of our households experience a decline in wage employment 63.3 percent households reported reduced assistance 57.9 percent of households reported a decrease in international assistance Remittances from abroad and of course The impact on our students we may have affected them in ways we are yet to document And I hope we can catch up Mr. Minister somehow by helping those students who have not been able to catch up But that is a worrying thing for us the socioeconomic context in which we worked during COVID for Saint Lucia you will notice that The debt to GDP ratio for Saint Lucia did not very significantly in that period what Happened is there was a 24.4 percent decline in real GDP growth in 2020 and they're still trying to recover from that You notice one employment in Saint Lucia was About for the youth was still around thirty eight point six nine percent and the poverty statistics we have put it at 28.8 percent based on the last study that was done The homicide rate was also very concerning to us because there's persons going into the field around Saint Lucia We are concerned and we saw that The homicide rate increases increased right through from 2019 to 2022 where it does about 41 per hundred thousand persons And we were rivaling Trinidad the big one that was at forty nine point four per hundred thousand in 2022 It's a scourge that we have and I think it will take all of us all of us All of us to address this problem once and for all that was the context but climate change remains the Universal issue for Saint Lucia and I want to go over some of the statistics because there's one in particular I want to highlight in 2020 the world Meteorological organization had a ready documented of 1.2 degrees Celsius rise in global temperature and In 2021-22 1.11 degrees Celsius 1.15 degrees Celsius increased But this third one day in 20 That should have been 2022 not 2022 rain was experienced for the first time at the highest point on the Greenland I ship Rain was experienced for the first time on the highest point of the Greenland I ship You know what that means it means temperatures had to increase So allow evapotranspiration to occur for the molecules of the ethics span and absorb that water And then it becomes concentrated and as the temperature falls rain falls Unprecedented in the history on the highest point in the Greenland I ship when you see that, you know No other we are in serious trouble The hurricane Elsa we know the impacts it on our farmers I'm sure Barry more will tell you and speak endlessly about it 12.59 million years dollars worth of damage in 2020 Human development index to Saint Lucia Was affected by our economic growth and we fell from 89 206 by 2021-22 and we hoping in the future this can be changed Let's go to the project results while all of this was happening in the climate change and homicide rates and so on We had the Jeff were continued along our way in 2020 We funded 11 projects in 2021. We saw approximately 80% declined to 5 And in 2022 we had almost a 350% increase to 13 And that brought a total number of projects funded in Saint Lucia since 2012 227 the total investment at the end of 22 was nine point four four million years dollars and Our SGP investment was three point seven one million years dollars and the co-funding were able to attract If you look at the co-funding ratio, it was an average of one to one point five four Meaning that for every one us we invest in Saint Lucia It was attracting one dollar and fifty four cents and that is from the government sources Private sector by lateral donors, but the lateral donors and so on that by any standard is very good It like it's like putting one year's dollar into an investment and every year you get it one fifty four back And if you had a million, you know what that would be This gentleman the income to communities Which one point one two million dollars at the at the end of 2022? And employment continues Though most of it is short term you will notice 100 persons in 2020 were employed 19 2021 51 in 2022 And a number of persons trained remain quite high The demand the need remained high even for the COVID period So just Morgan's program. We're not only about The quality of the environment But also about the social and economic development of our people Bread for survival today, but sustainability for tomorrow Continuing just just these maps represent the spatial spread of Of of projects in Saint Lucia. I want to go to the next the last one the one on the right This represents the cumulative number of projects in Saint Lucia since 2012 Notice in this map you see the majority of projects on the northwest west southwest coast We don't have many in the valley sir We don't have many in Miku And we have a situation that we have visited for example We have done presentations at one time probably was Like a big star on the east coast west But projects in the in recently has been hard in coming from those areas And it's something we are going to have to do we've helped from our extension officers and SDOs in Saint Lucia But we are as you can see we are almost in every part of Saint Lucia We have been working in projects Canaries the canaries landscape is one of the landscape where we invested in because of the high biodiversity there the high poverty rate there And issues of one employment, but we have a difficulty there We put together we dedicated 300 000 years dollars worth for investment in canaries since 2015 Only 33% of that has been used today Only 33% Yet canaries remain an area in need Why? We even commissioned a study by Dr. Jambattis to find out what is happening in canaries And of course the problem is the number of viable strong civil society organizations willing to take up the challenge to implement the projects and that remains a challenge and Until such term as we can get more organizations functioning now For us in Saint Lucia you need not Be resident in the community. You can be from every part any part of Saint Lucia And dedicate the project to canaries. It could be canarians living in Cabez state or canarians living in Casteries who want to do projects in the community We will be delighted to fund those projects right now. We have a project with a speaker in that community And we really want to see some transformational work in canaries At the end of 2022 and in a small community that's significant And uh When that project ended the group had was acquired land for the construction of a small honey processing plant But a challenge still remains too few civil society organizations operational in canaries To do Cut projects in the middle stages of the river and to do projects in the upper watershed And therefore because of that welcome minister Thank you for coming And because of that we have invested over 480 000 years dollars in sulfur Some of the results Lionfish was a plague in sulfur. We funded the lions club And they were able to buy new equipment and to teach people how to use the lionfish in sulfur And that of course increased the number of lionfish dishes on the on the restaurant menus in sulfur The capture of the lionfish of course is an invasive species the Assessments the financial assessments done on the Amount of resources or income from the trail Was quite impressive Well, a lot of money is being made on that gopital trail But not much is coming into the forge alive community And we were able to show that and it is almost A situation where there's a lot of extraction that is invested in other parts of sulfur And the people of forge alive Want a bigger stake in the investment In the income that is coming into sulfur and that project demonstrated that some Decisive action would have to be taken In sulfur we because of the effluence from pig race We were able to fund three biodigesters Which reduced the effluence going into the sulfur river that's a major source of worry for us And as part of that project we were able to do gis mapping of all the pig farms In the watershed of sulfur That is going to be a major task for us in the future And we are talking to the OECS to see if there's a project coming on stream to do some mobile gas digesters 11 persons were trained in water quality monitoring so we can keep up the monitoring of the water quality And at forge act we have the now famous and growing in the same algorithm back Um by the forge act development committee. I must tell you this is a four-year project in the making And what we what has happened there is a major step by the government of senucia Uh a devolution of authority from the government that has now come to people of forge act to manage school manage the site And I will tell you forge act development committee We give them 121 thousand years dollars as a upscale project They have now attracted in excess of 200 000 years dollars from the intern rank and fund From us aid from canary and from the private sector Forge act is an example worthy of emulation And the central prospect for her leadership will receive a citation from the u.n.c the The the letter was signed with the ministry But the devolution of authority and in this year an mou sign We also completed an energy audit of the Sofa fisheries cooperative that audit told us that if we fully solarize the uh the cooperative where we just Um the payment to low select by about 47 percent They were spending something like 10 000 years 10 000 is a dollar sorry a month on electricity So this has a Inclusion component and when it is completed we will not only have reduced carbon footprint We have reduced the cost of electricity to them But we would have made sure our fishers have a pension for the rest of their lives So photos of the projects we have But we also funded projects outside canaries and so far Let's call them projects outsides the selected landscapes And we were able to invest 1.25 million years dollars in those in 20 projects outside canaries and so for them We will present those results in what we call the geofocal areas honey production apiculture If there's one project that has grown in strength and solution since we arrive in solution Since I returned in solution to open this project This program is apiculture We have we were approached I remember in the very second week of opening office by Officers of the ministry of agriculture And told us look at apiculture is dying to send to the doctrines do something about it Our first two projects in St. Lucia were projects in apiculture One was the mill full honey producers cooperative The other one with the schoesell and disabled association and since then we have funded approximately 17 projects in apiculture Approximately 1.2 million US dollars worth of investment and this is beginning to show The results So one of the things we've done is to integrate science and technology into apiculture No longer are we satisfied with the low hanging fruit of just honey We are going up the value chain to drop wherever that leads And we will bring the benefits back to our people in solution One of the successful experiments is the extraction of apitoxins Ladies and gentlemen One gram of apitoxin is a hundred u.s. Mr. Minister One gram A hundred years So we tested it we exported 30 grams We got three thousand years back one of our projects So it's working the pharmaceutical industry in the world. They want apitoxins And if we can master the technology and only one group is doing that now And all apiculture collective We can almost replace the banana industry. How many tons of bananas will it take if I have one almost maybe 10 gallons of apitoxins we may have to Significantly increase the number of aprism solution to get that but we can make apiculture Uh a greater Have a greater impact on the economy solution and everything we see We are proven it with projects first and then we are telling you how to do it So we're not telling you to jump and then fall. We are doing it We are proven it can work and then we are advising you to do it The anola honey show is now a fix on the calendar Every december now we have had it for the last two years And we hope in very soon This will involve our brothers and sisters from the other waste years countries We have brought in technology remote monitoring in heights The way I explain that is that if you get up On a Saturday morning and you have 40 hives somewhere And you said darling you're not getting up today. You pull your smartphone And you switch it on to your smart Indicator and it will tell you what your hives are doing The melody of the bees tell you everything that is happening in the height As Richard Matthias will tell you Is that a lesson you will know if they are about to escape Or if they are about if the production has reached maximum Or if there is some problem there and you can go specifically to the height So we are bringing technology to integrate it into the apiculture industry and solution Epitourism mr chairman ladies and gentlemen epitourism We have an experiment at vg where persons from the cruise lines to get a coxswain company are actually participating in epitours A number of tours were done last in the last tourist season And it's going on and it is bringing an income to one of our grantees And we want to continue that and we want to spread it through st. Lucia people are interested I think ambassador Would remember that we took him to one of our learning centers and he did a candle right I may ask you where is that candle mine is still home. My wife is but in at 15 minutes every night Beautiful candle made out of scented wax and and so on so Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to learn about that, please consider that to be an avian you can go And of course many byproducts from from from from the from apris Are being introduced into solution We I will come back to apiculture in the south south project because we are being so confident now We are now beginning to export our expertise to the ocs The chairman I want you to look at this very carefully. If you look carefully, I'm about to play you a video We have invested recently in a high definition Document chief of seducia. We want it to Intend to launch this documentary in october Mr. Minister bow tie and red carpet So order your bow ties ladies and gentlemen, it's going to be red carpet at the caribbean cinema It's going to be an hour and a half long and we intend to use it to promote seducia internationally you can see the quality of this locally locally Produce and many hours were spent midnight hours were spent in kaides and ovet and gratis and titas Which sticks around and so on first time a solution group Is danelle there danelle? Who is uh Oh, yes one of the producers linda john Thomas and which is my life expert And thank you linden. We are going to promote this globally And we are going to use it and we don't want people to copy it You know, we wanted people to buy it so that the investment can be returned in conservation work in seducia Coming to you very soon That's in biodiversity Another areas climate change mitigation in the community of grace. We have the first bottling plant and also Honey processing plant by the horizon brothers It is fully solarized Mr. Gentleman when I saw the statistics from that two months ago. I thought I would write my letter of resignation why The electricity bill had gone long by 90 percent The profits had gone up by 70 percent And when I saw the bank statement I was telling john You know, we have something good going there and if you go to grace You will see the horizon brothers. I think you all should think about john start up and think about it Okay, the rastafarian brothers from grace Yes, welcome And they'll be recognized suitably today And it is fully solarized and we're going to use solar energy as a primary source Of energy for a lot of our agris processing plants very soon We also um completed the energy audit Um For the sulfur cooperative fishes cooperative that was completed and we are able And we are in the implementation of The project now to solarize that cooperative The focus at center did some work for us on the sdgs Where they indigenized it and they translated it into quay all So for those who want copies they found at the focus center and also at the At our office The goodwill fishes and Invictus Our fgf created a tripartite part a partnership The idea is could we produce a fad? A fishing aggregate device that would not get lost Because one of the problems if our traditional fads is sometimes the time they get lost and they go on ghost fishing So we say can we do a fad? But what can that fad do in addition to just causing the fish to assembly? Well, that fad would have sensors in it that will tell us the water temperature The salinity of the water Wave height species type species density It would have college and avoidant systems on it And it will have a geofencing system in it and it would be communicated with satellites in the real time So when I said mr. Ever is just a fish for me When he wishes on the boat, he's not going to waste his time. He checks his smartphone. Oh, what are the coordinates of the The fad he checks it goes straight there and come back Meanwhile in Met Office is pulling data in real time from this From this fad Here is an example. This is the first prototype Tested by Invictus and I want the persons who are by the way By the way recently in Dubai recently in Dubai They became they won an international award They came 15th out of over 11,000 applicants said said We have the brain power So go real fishers. Please stand Invictus madame. Monsieur leave you see These partnerships can work when we When we get the right Configuration, it works and this puts them on the map and guess what? ladies and gentlemen The primary sub bar beta site at an exhibition recently I hear she's talking about ordering six And she called the primary structure and I had to be going to see you all have to put money in that So poor god poor god So I got a blast Okay, so ladies and gentlemen If we tap into the genius of our people we give them the right environment We encourage them There is no heaven we can't reach there's no Mountain we can't climb there's no river we cannot traverse We are going places and let us do it together the genius of our people must be discovered and fully developed Ladies and gentlemen in land degradation at both soley and trozell We have worked in with a group there And for the first time you're going to see a fully integrated farm They're producing their own bio fertilizers They're producing their own compost tea They're producing their own chocolate I see mr. Springer is admiring the morphology of a cocoa plant His smile is something I have wondered what he was thinking of when he was looking at Mushrooms as well mushrooms is a high Value product they produce in mushrooms as well. You can get cocoa tea and so on Visitors will be welcomed there very soon and this project will be open to the people of st. Lucia visitors to st. Lucia We have integrated the bioeconomic the bioeconomy principles into that farm And icca is head in that project and we are very pleased to what we see so far The cassava processing plant is fully operational now The prime minister was there for the opening ceremony. I see the president of the The the workers union is there a cooperative is there And we hope that the exports and sales from that cassava plant will grow and grow It is one plant. We are looking forward to Solarizing in jf8 At the larisos primary school our first faith-based organization project was implemented We fenced up the school We gave them An organic farm We solarize The external lighting system We give them an aquaponics system And may ask them to integrate it into the syllabus The larisos the evangelicals I think they call himself Was the first group to come to us for in the faith-based organization and data and the studies working quite well as well in larisos you thought At the Kelvin Felix as their season pastoral A place up in maricel we funded a green plan Green plan And it's going to look at Rinewater harvest and Energy reduction and conservation apiculture Trails and a number and trading For young people in the maricel or what we can call the cash used to grow the conurbation I see As bishop Kelvin There you go But that's you did that to me, you know We will get it one day, sir. We will get it. Yes confession on Saturday for me And As bishop did marriage encounter if me so I should not have We made my wife and a few other persons. So anyway, um This is this grid plan. We hoping we'll create a beacon And later spoil a spotlight of transmission in that cash used to grow the conurbation for st. Lucia climate change and adaptation I want to give a little story about this project up in lamas and monzi in the hills of swazel and so on I see a doc series there our for photography is there because he can vouch for that The people about lamas and monzi We're getting water once a week on a Sunday for half an hour When we went there and we understood what was happening not only that was bad for health But in a post disaster context that was serious We said doc series explained to me that he went there one Sunday And he was setting up the meeting and people came in into the community center and they started to work Somebody came to the ring and said water come Doctor he said he has never seen a community center evacuated as quickly as that They came back 45 minutes. I'm sorry, sir. Sorry, sir, but water water So we went in there and we give 27 households between 800 or 1000 gallons of water And everybody has a 50 day guaranteed supply in a post disaster context That is adaptation. Ladies and gentlemen, that is adaptation Chemicals and waste Coming soon The most advanced aquaponics facility will be in here for soon You thought we come in the national Body for disabled people represented by moffilus It's a gentleman. I started moffilus. I love to recognize moffilus leadership in a disabled community When moffilus came to us he looked at the projects we did in aquaponics and said, sir We cannot go on a trial basis on this one. We have to be dead, right? So I said, okay Take a planning grant and do the research and he came back and found A reasonably cost system from california which he is installing in if you thought and Believe me when it is done We will get organic vegetables fruits and fish This we hope will be a class one priority one Aquaculture project for sinusia and we'll be able to replicate it during jeff it At Grace in babodo the seven advantage group We are doing some work there That has an interesting background. The farmer almost died from cancer. In fact He went to martinik And they were counting the days He told me in a personal testimony How he may play way May be he may be he and he made uh I would say almost a covenant with god and said if you let me leave I will devote the rest of my life to finding non-toxic chemicals in farming Apparently god heard him And he was sales. He returned and started to experiment and he experimented and he came up with a concoction That farmers cannot get enough of the testimonials we have If we had if we were in if we were investing in projects based on testimonials, we'd have done the project a long time ago but We have asked our agronomies on our A national steering committee. Mr. Julius Polius, who is the former director of agriculture. You all will know him He's a soil scientist To do some testing of the product to find out the active chemical ingredients To know what percentages should be added so we can have a stable product As soon as that is done ladies and gentlemen Pastor As soon as this is done We'll be coming To build that processing plant for bio stimulants in Laguas and we hope we can export that bio stimulant Based on the efficacy that our farmers tell us That that is happening In international waters, Mr Mr Colleagues and friends There's this young group of Men and women who have been struggling for the last few years to get a project in lobster farming in the coastal zone in view of what? Only recently they were able to get the permission of 1600 square meters Of seabed to do lobster farming lobster is a high-end product I mean if you sell lobster to the martinikens, you can get a lot of money for that and the hotels So we are happy that The designs are completed the studies were done by the end of december And this project is about to be launched and I just say we are going to have to use Um a lot of advanced sensors to avoid predelacinity Because we suspect that this is going to be an issue once we start to produce the lobsters and people will come in the dead of the night but The technology I hope will help the brothers and sisters of UFO So soft project in apiculture and I I want to deal with this a little bit because We have learned so much since 2012 Um in apiculture That we decided to compete within the un system for 150 000 years dollars Not only were we over Confident in ourselves. We invited six other countries to come with us chenille and granades and venison dominicas and lucia St kids and some more in the pacific we won We got 150 000 years dollars And we started to do implement the project Covid comes mom affected us. What do we do? So a number of agencies including south of lucia community college chairman Uh, uh, the university was tenders at trinidad center custom Um, I know the apiculture collective the association of beekeepers and kairin came together and created an online basic Beekeeping course with 17 modules everything from basic ecology to gender and apiculture at close of business on december 31st 2022 we had over 100 persons who are graduated from that course today It's over 250 and the third court is now in chaining and I want richard matias. Where is richard? Richard to stand up for the living that project Richard has done significant work. So in body any one of you who want to become Uh apicultures a honey producer We have a lot in in situ at vg Or you can do it online And you can be mentored By people like richard this besides richard is the only solution if a master beekeeping certification from corner university And I am going to put my ps friend on On standby We need some money in the national budget to send a few other people to corner And it can be done long distance as well We need more master beekeepers because the long-term plan we have in seducia is to make us the center of excellence apiculture in yoice Center of excellence mr. Minister, please convey that to the audible prime minister, and I'll tell you why Mr. Chair another thing we have done We are also training persons in the oiceas in fact John fendrick from ancillary is now in dominica training people in the kalinago territory On advanced apiculture queen raring richard lives next week. I think to continue the training So this hundred and fifty thousand years dollars we won We went beyond our budget To turn it out to be go up the archipelago And we also bought materials and equipment and exported it to those countries in aftermath of the volcanic eruption We were the first to send equipment and materials apiculture to st. Vincent Take note. Say no sir. Here we come Then the next important thing we are doing with our proactive Programming is to bring to st. Lucia Mali in the market apiculture research in any institute you have the conceptual drawings to my left and my right We have done the business plan We have done the designs We have presented it to the dca We've received approval in principle They have asked us for my environment and impact and social assessment We have completed that and submitted it to them last week So we are waiting for a final decision from dca And based on the estimates we're looking for eight million dollars to invest In the market apiculture research and learning institute. What will it do? you know um The space agency in in the u.s. Has something used and we have a problem It's going to be view fort We have an intent for your development to become the center for research and innovation in st. Lucia We are going to have those Shipped buildings Will have research centers For coral reefs and mangroves For apiculture testing Our honey to ensure Fake honey does not enter st. Lucia 33 of the honey in the world now is fake And I can tell you I will bring you two bottles of honey and you have a 50 chance of telling me Which one is Fake and you will not be able to do that. So this is going to be Not only for research in that area. It's going to have gastronomic research and we are going to have a center for Science technology and mathematics and so on. So this is going to put st. Lucia in the forefront international um Community based management of areas up in forces jack you will stone have an algorithm park Led by people like sandra prospect sandra. Where's sandra sandra? It's outside. Hi, sandra at the back I call her the prime minister forces jack. I'm sorry And she's a lady who leads there the deputy prime minister is fond of forces jack We're leaving and this what it is completed. You'll have nature trails camping cabins, bed and breakfast Massage therapy near waterfalls Gastronomic delights and farm to table community festivals research education and more Forces jack is going to lead us in community tourism and we are going to do it with The strategic grant and the IAF funding Knowledge products in the last Few years we have funded the luminaries publication We also have done a baseline on apiculture in in the OECS and we have produced leaflets and documents on the project cycle And simplified documents on the Jeff focal areas in conclusion We have learned that our future programming must transition from being reactive To being both reactive and proactive If we are to help avoid dependent environmental disasters We shall therefore be guided by the following We are going to upscale our programming from just one project to landscape Level type programming. So we'll take a landscape like souffle or miku or canrys and begin Adapting our our lessons learned to those We are also going to be upscaling to beyond the hundred fifty thousand years max when we start to speak to our bilateral partners Value chain development is going to be paramount for us and research and innovation is going to be a constant refrain This island of st. Lucia must go beyond just accepting Primary production levels. We have to move up that value chain if we don't do that couple smoke our pipes CCM as both we'll be using alternative energy as as both a source of Of low-cost electricity, but also reducing our carbon footprint strategic partnerships will continue And we'll also be promoting co-management in a big way And of course our knowledge products will increase for circulation look circulating locally and internationally At one time in my life I used to be one of those who believe that science would solve all our problems And then I had my experience in postgrad and I came back and not nowadays I feel a deficiency in my learning. I really Felt that I should have done a philosophy when I was at St. Mary's And there was no offering of philosophy at the time, but now I'm reading more and more philosophy books So I ended with two quotations The preamble to the constitution of the UNESCO declares that was written in 1948 Since wars beginning the minds of men It is in the minds of men and let's say women again Women as well that the def defenses of peace must be constructed. The thought goes before the action We have to influence the thought But Aquinian philosophy is what has touched me recently To will the good of the other Thomas Aquinas to will the good of the other. That's a definition of love How can we as countries will the good of other countries? How can we as neighbors will the good of our neighbor? How come we as friends will the good of another? This is like a play constant play in my mind. How do I operationalize that in planning In the work that I do To will the good of the other listen gentlemen. I rest. Thank you. Mr. Jack. We have some time for questions Can I ask you to please put your hands together again for Mr. Johnson? That really was a masterful presentation in so many respects And there's so many takeaways from Giles's presentation. I don't really know where to start But he made the points earlier A conviction That he expressed That if we tap into the genius of our people There is no mountain we cannot climb No river we cannot cross And I really believe if we're looking for blueprints for the development of our country That's where we need to go Each of us I've long been convinced Has in our DNAs The capacity for greatness How do we reach into there that that That well spring Of our creativity and greatness and bring it up That's the challenge for st. Lucia. I believe we can do it Look at what the Jeff small grants program has been able to achieve with so little working with ordinary people and You know helping them to do extraordinary things We are friends We are in a dive Towards a lumen lowest common denominator in our country and we need to stop arrest that Reverse it and move it in the direction that the Jeff small grants program is pointing us to I'm very pleased that you are here minister Henry and I acknowledge your your presence. You have come at the right time Because I I believe your ministry Is coincidental that the two of you are here Your ministry and ministered with his ministries are the two most critical ministries in the government apparatus Because both of you go at the heart and soul of the of the person the person the solution The transformation that needs to be done there rest with the two your two ministries. I'm convinced of that Okay, I don't want to give a I'm not going to give a speech. You don't need to worry but giles is just just you know Energized in me, you know the need to see these these simple things we need to transform Help our people to transform the simple into the noble and minister I want to suggest as well that and prime minister is not here, but maybe you can take the message back And and and we on the national steering committee. We are very pleased That we have the core funding that the government provides every year through its Star allocations but I believe if we Ride on the coattails of of the jeff small brands program in st. Lucia The victory is assured And so when we when we craft the budget, I think one of the first things we need to do is look at the multipliers That we can achieve from one dollar In that budget and if we take that as the yardstick the jeff gets the eight million u.s. Dollars that is looking for for the the For the research facility There's eight million dollars there. I know u.s I've seen it I know it's the minister illa West of illa, okay So bannouin, you know, and we will do good things with it. I promise you so We're supposed to add a musical interlude at this point. Um I'm a gorge I don't see a bar. I don't see gorge so Uh, we were oh is there uh, uh, so all right while you get your act together. Um, what's your name, sir? Oh, michael fresher We'll come to you in a little bit. So let's do this. Let me invite um I'm trying to move things along as quickly as I can because I know ministers. You are busy people um Let's invite dame caliopopo. Let me see and dr. Stephen king To the podium to lead us in this phase of the all the proceedings And you may not recognize dr. King. Uh, he's he's He's to our rest to our rights. He's very naturally dressed as you can say All all called a matching and coordinating and everything Good morning Moving right along our first citation Mr. John charlemagne Come john Really good to see you this morning Born in saltibus John moved to Corinth Where he learned his trade from his father-in-law over the last 31 years His learning continued from attending courses organized by the ministry of agriculture The jeff sgp undp and other organizations He's a founding member of the orizing brothers And under his leadership The group was successful in accessing funding from the jeff sgp undp program This support has led the group to be the proud owner of the only fully solarized Honey bottling and processing plant in st. Lucia For his constant pursuit of knowledge And his clarity of vision For his dynamism for growth and development For his never-ending search For new products For adding to the agriculture value chain and for his exemplary leadership The global environment facility small grants program united nations development program st. Lucia country program Presents the citation with grateful appreciation To john charlemagne on this The sixth day of july 2023 Thank you john our next citation goes to sandra Prosper Sandra From the heights of fonce jack. There is a star A community star She has never lost her luster Since she found her passion and direction at the age of 12 community work Was ingrained in her from her teenage years And her education at the masters and advanced diploma levels All exemplified her passion for community work Her calling was teaching and community development From the parish council to the credit union to the daycare And sustainable development committees of her community Sandra engaged with zeal Rising to be the quintessential woman leader For her leadership Work in environmental conservatism or conservation i should say For development ethos that is participatory and inclusive And for her exemplary community leadership The jeff sgp undp st lucia country program Presents this citation with grateful appreciation to sandra prosper on this Six day of july and 2023 this last citation in this segment goes to richard matias At 18 richard came to st lucia on vocation from england Enticed by a haunting desire to discover his mother's homeland Realizing he had no saleable skills at that time richard returned to london Where he enrolled and earned himself qualifications in electronics and computers Then he packed his bags and arrived in st lucia at 24 never to depart richard traversed the field of work from construction to hospitality To accounting to environmental health But was never really happy Not even high emoluments could assuage his restless spirit Until at work. He was called to manage a beehive And he contacted the old master vavan To help him from then richard's love for bees grew Richard is recognized for integrating science into beekeeping in st lucia And in the process earned himself the master beekeepers certificate from cornell university For his integration of science Into beekeeping in st lucia for managing the process delivered first local online training course in basic beekeeping For his training over 100 beekeepers in st lucia as well as the eastern and southern caribbean And for his exemplary national and regional leadership The jeff sgp UNDP st lucia country program presents this citation with grateful appreciation To richard mathias on this Six day of july 2023 Thank you very much So we we want to invite you minister edward if you join us, please To meet the presentations to the outgoing members of the national steering committee The impolet will do the citations And you will present the honours Mrs. Norma sherry favor An incredibly quiet disposition A smile that remains imprinted On one's consciousness Norma joined the national steering committee in 2015 And brought to the table her knowledge of climate change at the national and regional levels At nsc meetings her questions were probing But never statements of profound knowing And in these questions and statements There were transfers of kindness and empowerment With contributions replete with nuggets of information For her quiet and determined support to the spirit and operations Of the small grants projects programs in st lucia And for six years of service the gf sgp undp st lucia country program presents this citation With grateful appreciation to norma sherry favor on this The sixth day of july 2023 Rosemary husband's mothering her thinking rose that ever smiles in all kinds of weather Whose presence lightens the difficulties of decision making For one who consistently emphasized the jeff's principle of transparency And whose insights stimulated greater reflection And for six years of dedicated service to the spirit and operations of the small grants program in st lucia The jeff sgp undp st lucia country program presents this citation with grateful appreciation To rosemary husband's mothering on this the sixth day of july 2023 ever is this jamari a deep thinker An analyst par excellence Never quick to speak And therefore seldom commits the follies of those who hear But do not understand His contribution over six years was in the business department and during his tenure The number of sound livelihood projects grew significantly For his sound and steadfast commitment to the poor and marginalized And for his humble yet wise Contributions to the spirit and operations of the small grants program in st lucia the jeff sgp undp st lucia country program presents this citation with grateful appreciation To ever is this jamari on this the sixth day of july 2023 all of the recipients This is the beauty of the small grants program or one of the beautiful things about the program The members of the sterring national sterring committee Volunteer their services. They don't get one red cent Okay, yet we meet on average how often just once a month Twice twice a month. We go on field trips We interact with communities and so on and the joy that we get from there. I know I speak for all of us From doing this is just on surpass so Thank you for the opportunity to serve and let's once again congratulate Right so so I see you uh, you have your equipment all set up. Can you come and introduce yourself to us, please? Just tell us a little bit about yourself Good morning the ladies and gentlemen I am michael fletcher. I'm 16 years old and I um if island is healing from the people's republic of labry Please permit me this morning We had a slight bit of a test technical difficulty with my phone however The song that I'd like to share with you is I love this land Where I was born and I think this song this song really Represents how I as a young person can feel because of the efforts of the likes of sir child's romulus and the rest So thank you very much Well, I he's a musician but you can tell where he's going, right? With that with that with that barry white voice. I mean, I'm never going to give you up Do you think sir From the from the people's republic of library. Do you have an agency? You do Man is well set up I was trying to get cut into the action there because this this fellow This fellow is going to go places. Mr. Fletcher. I congratulate you. Well done Keep the focus You know keep growing you on the right track All right from library to Juliet Yeah from library to julia. That's your dream, right? Indeed. All right. Thank you very much Right Moving along we have gained some time, but we're still a little behind um I now want to Invite miss lemia El Tayab Who is the resident representative for un tp barbeders and eastern caribbean to? Deliver a message to us. It would be done via Video can I get a sound check? Can you please try now? Okay, so i'm assuming you can hear me. I can't hear you I just wanted to To join you. I'm really happy I did I mean, wow But also an opportunity to congratulate everyone in the room um Congratulate the government of st. Lucia. I know they're ministers, ps's and colleagues in the room Congratulate the national steering committee. Um, wow, what a set of um uh contributors and volunteers at that And to congratulate um giles um and the team Stephanie and everybody else working with them But most of all to congratulate The people of st. Lucia All the farmers um all of those working in api culture all of those working in fishing and aqua culture All of those that we work with in terms of solar devices In terms of technology and science to come up with these brilliant ideas. I congratulate all of you because This report the giles presented is amazing And it could not have been done without the collaboration and this broad partnership across all of society from the top of government to every fisher man and fisher women um that to every person working with bees to every single farmer or fruit Planter or scientist This broad partnership is something that brings a lot of warmth to my heart This is what development is truly about And you have demonstrated it on the ground Not only in terms of how you work but also on terms of impactful projects. So congratulations to all of you My task is very simple On the 11th anniversary of the small grants program of the collaboration between UNDP SGP And the global environmental fund with the government and people of st. Lucia I am really proud and honored to be part of this process And congratulate you on the results. I think for me One of the most interesting things that you have been able to accomplish in st. Lucia Is to not have individualized projects that are small and standalone But to have the strategic vision to use every grant to build on the one before it And to use those building blocks to reach larger goals To use those individual projects Into what I call a portfolio approach and which Giles calls a landscape approach And that that is the essence Of real development that is the essence of where we need to be today Because all of our issues are interconnected and you need holistic approaches You cannot deal with climate change alone. You cannot deal with the livelihoods Of our citizens alone. You cannot deal with biodiversity alone. You cannot deal With the business sector and SMEs alone But having that strategic vision of bringing the pieces together But not only that because because the small grant program You can't put things to scale From the beginning you have to leverage and then scale up and then scale up some more So really congratulations from my side I love the way into science has been integrated and learning has been integrated and research has been integrated And innovation has been integrated I'm really proud of the adaptive and agile approach That has been used in the st. Lucia small grants program I applaud all of you Even though Giles and Stephanie are at the center of it, but it's really the broad partnership the collaboration that makes this happen Let me mention in particular What has been happening with apiculture chain Let me also mention The the Mancoat apiculture research and learning institute Um, this is an endeavor that should be applauded And encouraged and we stand firmly behind it. And I think I cannot not mention Um, the fish aggregating device the fad that actually won a prize in Dubai 2023 expo innovation show Um, the god, uh, the the goodwill fishers cooperative The Invictus and the Jeff grounds small small grant program A partnership that managed To be highlighted In one of the largest platforms and stages in the world The Dubai expo is something that we all look to To see new innovation to understand where businesses are going and what new things are being Brought to the table And I'm really proud to be associated with that as SGP as UNDP as the global environment Fund I will stop there, but there is a lot to congratulate you on I wish I could have been in the room with you I am coming to st. Lucia Very soon in a week or two this month And I do hope that I will have the opportunity to meet all of you and to visit the projects But in the meantime, I wanted to make sure that I really congratulate everyone in the room And also congratulate you on this um 11th anniversary. So thank you and back to you Many thanks, madam resident representative Ladies and gentlemen, we now move to the next item on the agenda Which is the launch of the publication on research and innovation And for that purpose I call to the microphone A chairman and butchers Thank you very much Cletus This is essentially a very symbolic gesture Few years ago Jeff launched this publication It is really the proceedings of the people's parliament, which is part of the knowledge fair That is Produced by the local program It has been distributed to a few individuals and institutions But we have not made it Public so today we just will make in two symbolic presentations As a gesture of launching By way of by way of its content it covers a number of areas particularly The leading thinkers in some of these areas education medicine agriculture ICT and of course business And um some of the individuals who had contributed to this publication include the likes of Some of our luminaries overseas like dr. Ketu lorenzen young dr. Parry husbands our local environmentalists like Jean Pierre Laura Jean Pierre Of course our esteemed chairman cletus springer has shared some thoughts with us as well And also dim caliope Paulette louise So ladies and gentlemen, I will first invite our minister for education and sustainable development to receive a copy of the publication Towards integrating research and innovation into sustainable development processes in st. Lucia. Mr minister He has He has to declare this it's not government property Because he wants to take it home to read The other presentation is to miss kejana to say To represent our grantees and partners Pardon My apologies Thank you very much Mrs. Smigel Yes, um Thank you chairman And i'm hoping that this report will be read by all in sundry, especially those in the academic community Those in the scientific community I think it's uh, it's an excellent report. It's sort of pleasure being part of the event So we now want to get to the meat of the matter And there have been several meets in on matter Today and that is the um presentation of the feature address by the honorable Sean edward Who is the minister of education science and technology sustainable development? Etc etc minister you have the podium Thank you very much cletus springer master of ceremonies The prime minister has asked me to issue an apology on his behalf Currently he's in trinidad where I should have been this morning with him at the carry-com heads of government meeting But original air transportation issues meant that I could not have left in time to be in trinidad with the prime minister To do what I was summoned to do in trinidad Nevertheless, i'm happy to be here to present on his behalf It has become habitual of me to use truncated versions of protocols as established and this morning. I can't resist But to do it once again by acknowledging the presence of governor general de merita Is that correct? Very well. I've been chided before by deem When I did not get it right They pull at louisie The honorable drachim henry minister responsible for equity Social transformation, etc Senator kjana to say who's in a different capacity this morning Permit me to acknowledge her presence Is grace archbishop Reverend gabriel malze. I will not make the mistake of those who came before me president of the sd a mission pastor roger steven a friend of mine Or should I say he was a friend of mine UNDP staff ambassador chen Childs and his team from jeff Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, and I must Recognize and acknowledge the presence of dr. Cherry Leremi Who kept me in check many many years ago when I was a student of hers at the division of teacher education and educational administration What we called teachers college at the south louis community college It is a pleasure and also an honor to join you here today in celebrating this momentous occasion with the jeff un dp small grants program And also a pleasure being here with members of the local steering committee. This is important Such a significant milestone must be acknowledged and applauded For without the funding support from the jeff sgp Many solutions would not have been able to make such telling contributions to the development of their communities Now in its 11th year of operations The jeff sgp un dp has established itself as a strong peeler in st. Lucia's financing landscape One whose impact extends beyond our local communities and our national shores Invictus invictus's recent win at the dubai international expo strongly confirms this Jeff sgp should be extremely proud for recognizing and nurturing such talent You have solidified the program as a true beacon of hope for our rural communities Vulnerable population and marginal marginalized persons for strong financial and technical support In the year 2013 The jeff sgp formally opened its doors with five grantees recognized during the launch Not only did this underscore the existing need for such a program back then But it also signaled the instrumental rule that the program would eventually play in st. Lucia's financing architecture 10 years and over 100 projects later With a compliment of only two staff members The critical rule and transformative impact of the program which spans several communities Cannot be denied or minimized as financing remains a persistent challenge to st. Lucia's national development Of course, we know this is true for many if not all small island developing states It would be remiss of me To not say a special thank you to the global environment facility jeff For financial support for the financial support it has provided to st. Lucia Over the last decade without which few of the achievements to date under the program would have been possible Notwithstanding the multiplicity of challenges facing our island We have boldly committed to pursuing a path of sustainable development Which will ensure that we put st. Lucia's first We have signed onto several multi lateral environmental agreements Such as the united nations framework convention on climate change or the un f triple c The united nations convention on biodiversity The united nations convention to combat the certification All in an effort to combat climate change Prevent and reverse biodiversity loss and protect our lands by mitigating the impacts of land degradation Within the last 10 years St. Lucia also committed to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development Thereby agreeing to a global challenge Thereby agreeing to a global challenge with an action plan that puts people planet and prosperity At the heart of national development With these commitments government has made a deliberate effort to move towards implementing integrated programs Those that target multiple sectors and result in impactful and transformational change for our citizens We can now see that through these national programs More solutions of access to better healthcare Education decent work and more resilient communities However, we also know that climate change Biodiversity loss and land degradation Are three of the main environmental challenges that are constantly threatening to undo many of our gains The recent occurrence of the current flash flood passage of tropical storm breath and the ravaging effects of the covid 19 pandemic I am most certain still remain fresh and very vivid in all our minds not to mention The debilitating impact they've had on some sectors of our economy Dental damage to property and infrastructure loss of lives and livelihoods experience over the years From extreme weather events coupled with increased unemployment experience during the pandemic will forever be etched in our memories Though the full extent of direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic will never be truly determined Like a phoenix rising from the ashes our people have shown themselves to be truly resilient With a strong will and determination to propel themselves forward Despite our ever rising challenges and setbacks as a small country Indeed it is through the continued and evolving support of critical programs Such as the jeff sgp that we can get ahead of these social and environmental problems And I think it was grievous this morning who alluded to the crime scourge and how that can adversely impact other aspects of national development The need for a holistic approach with strong leadership active participation at all levels of society Including the private or business sector non-government agencies community organizations academia The youth and vulnerable groups cannot be overemphasized in this process We must redouble our efforts to reach those affected and those who are vulnerable in our society We must support local action and innovation Work to build and strengthen capacities and we must always at every opportunity Share knowledge when that is possible Regular monitoring and evaluation of project impact and benefits Must be an imperative at every juncture of programming We need to constantly rebalance our relationship with nature and the environment Having said all of that Let me assure you that our government will continue to take the necessary steps and actions to move forward along the path of sustainable development for st. Lucia Ours is an administration that has an appreciation for the natural environment And how it can impact livelihoods and also impact the economic survival of our country Our small and fragile economic base has made us appreciate the interconnectedness of all key areas And we have therefore committed to leveraging our natural assets in a sustainable manner that will enhance our national development as a country Testament to this commitment is st. Lucia's recently approved 2023 to 2024 national budget With which elaborates a program of inclusive national development that aims to build economic social and environmental resilience The program aims to accomplish This by targeting strategic development pillars with particular emphasis on key areas of agriculture tourism infrastructure health education and citizen security And cross cutting thematic areas of disaster risk management resilience and sustainable development productivity and economic competitiveness and gender mainstreaming and social protection We all know that sustainable development does not happen in isolation Nor is it achieved overnight It takes time And it takes a lot of convincing to get the national population to buy into the programs being designed and rolled out by the experts and the Technocrats who have been charged with the responsibility of underscoring that critical aspect of our development as a people It therefore requires an integrated and collective effort A whole of society approach which is strongly anchored on a robust national development framework With sector plans and strategies from which all projects and programs must be formulated or derived In other words, there must be collaboration amongst critical agencies of national development There must be buy-in. There must be cross agency Engagements so that everybody can be pulling in the same direction for the good of our country I feel reassured that St. Lucia's national development Is on the right path for sustained growth on the pin by several key national planning documents Including but not limited to the climate change adaptation policy The national adaptation plan prioritizing adaptation measures for eight key sectors or areas With four sectoral adaptation strategies and action plans in water agriculture and resilient ecosystems A private sector engagement strategy which aims to stimulate a more informed and involved private sector That will actively contribute to meeting St. Lucia's adaptation priorities A nationally determined contribution document which seeks to achieve Seven percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector by the year 2030 relative to 2010 targeting electricity generation and the transportation sector A national ocean policy and strategic action plan A national biodiversity strategy and action plan A national energy transition strategy and a recently cabinet approved marine litter Management action plan which we in sustainable development call the ml map and the climate change research policy and strategy These plans and policies among others Not specifically referenced here today All speak to buildings and Lucia's resilience and adaptive capacity A prerequisite for sustainable national development I am therefore encouraged to learn that the country program strategy which guides the work of the jeff sgp Is strongly aligned with many of our national planning and development policies Along with various other global priorities including jeff focal areas of biodiversity climate change chemicals and waste international waters and land degradation In addition the country program strategy shows strong alignment with regional policies espoused at the levels of the OECS and Caricom The evidence is clear global challenges such as the kovid 19 pandemic and climate change are increasingly disrupting lives and livelihoods and on On an on an unprecedented scale Our responses to these must therefore be swift global and coordinated If we are to make any meaningful attempts to get ahead of the threats and challenges derived from those In this respect, I am making a strong appeal to the sgp and other funding agencies such as the solution national conservation fund To make full use of such institutions to build your institutional capacity Explore and maximize synergies and leverage co-funding support and technical expertise If there is one lesson that the past decade has shown us is that inclusive sustainable development Cannot happen in silos. It must be integrated and deliberate approach with developed and And deliberate approach with involvement at all levels of society From government agencies to the private sector to civil society organizations community groups academia and the youth We all have a responsibility to work together to build resilience resilient communities Which can drive sustained growth and development that improves the quality of life of Our people and that is the mandate of any government agency To improve the lot of the average person whom we serve Irrespective of which department of government we are from Or whether we work in the private sector or we are just members of civil society organizations In that same vein we must encourage public-private partnerships I therefore call on our business community to actively support innovation and technological initiatives that move away from an extractive To a more regenerative green economy Let us encourage with deliberateness projects that promote replication and Skillability and integrate nature and the environment as an imperative in other words projects that would not put us at variance with the Natural environment and this is more critical for us as small island developing states than it would be For the larger countries that have alternatives to the mega resources that we have to rely on In closing, I wish to congratulate the jeff sgp along with the national steering committee For the tremendous contribution it has made to community empowerment local innovation and st lucas overall national development landscape since it was launched in the year 2013 I call on the sgp to remain dynamic and responsive to the environmental social and economic needs of our country st lucas Finally, I wish to pledge our government's commitment to continue supporting the work of the jeff sgp through future jeff funding Replenishments and i'm hoping that at the next presentation. That's not part of the script that was handed to me that when mr Rumulus projects his map of st lucas We will see denry being featured more prominently In terms of the rollout of projects. I know jeff is predicated on equity And jeff is very sensitive to the plight of people particularly those from rural st lucas Who have a lot of challenges to deal with and I speak from a position of knowledge and information Having been the parliamentary representative of a rural community For the better part of 11 12 years. Thank you very much and we must commend jeff and the point has been made before that When you peruse the estimates of expenditure and revenue There are so many different funding sources. You see loans grants And the lexicon has changed over time to to include more fancy finance language But I always paid very close attention To what was in the department or the ministry of sustainable development even during the time of dr. Fletcher And I can tell you at least 90% of the capital expenditure in the department of sustainable development Comes from grant funding and if that can replicate itself across other ministries and agencies St lucas will be a better place for it because as we speak we have a serious debt challenge on our hands And in the case of the jeff This is grant. We don't have to pay back. We are not borrowing money is available And the point that was made this morning that has resonated with me ever since it was made Is that and it probably wasn't couched that way That in communities where you have strong Community-based organizations. There's so much more that has been achieved in those communities and therefore it calls for that that Collaboration between agencies of government to go in there strengthen the mothers and fathers groups The community development groups the sports clubs the churches, etc Every facet of society is being touched and there's an avenue for you to Infiltrate the jeff to roll out programs that can benefit the communities in which you serve and even where you reside So mr Romulus on behalf of the government on behalf of the prime minister Thank you so very much For all you have done and there's so much more to be done And we look forward to working with you and your team and as I said with all seriousness I hope when you populate that map of st. Lucia We will see The the the east coast being featured more prominently more than what we would have seen from praling a few years ago. Thank you very much everybody Thank you very much minister and and just let me clarify The charge the minister gave you is not to populate st. Lucia Is to populate the map Of st. Lucia that's very very important. So minister I want to say um That eight million eight million u.s If you can pledge That eight million u.s minister I can I can pledge To do all that I can within the steering committee to ensure That denry mabua My dual valley and so on gets projects Commensurate with that investment minister Hand on heart Hand on heart minister. I give you that pledge Okay, so before we invite um Stephanie to Present the vote of thanks. I have with giles's permission. I want to call our chair chairman Charles to join me make a presentation of the report um to Want to minister Joachim Henry Mr. Henry One to ambassador Peter chen another another possible source of And um, we need one more giles. Uh, one two As bishop uh, uh, gary on malzare We're just winging it here. So forgive me. Um, this one to pastor steve So we have tried to be equitable in our distribution We've given to the politicians to the men of faith And to the man in between I guess Stephanie peter is the senior program Assistant with the jeff office And I now want to invite her to deliver the vote of thanks Thank you, mr. Springer Ladies and gentlemen distinguished guests. Please allow me to adopt the protocol already established It is my honor and privilege to stand before you today on behalf of the jeff sgp UNDP celusia program to express our deepest gratitude and extend a heartfelt. Thank you for gracing us with your presence at this remarkable event First and foremost, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the honorable minister shon edward For taking the time to deliver the feature address on behalf of the honorable prime minister Your profound words have undoubtedly left an indelible impact on all of us Inspiring us to continue to strive for greatness and embrace new possibilities We would like to express our heartfelt. Thanks to all our esteemed speakers mr. Ember charles nsc chair for his warm welcome address Mr. Jals Romulus the national coordinator for presenting the annual report and leading an intellectual discourse and our resident rep Ms. Limia L. Tayeb for her enlightening speech Which we hope will foster and encourage an environment of collaboration and growth for our country I would also like to congratulate our grantees who are recognized for their outstanding leadership in the various organizations I do hope that this will motivate other organizations to strive to reach and surpass their full potential To our outgoing nsc members Thank you for your unwavering commitment and belief in the vision of the sgp program We do hope to maintain collaboration with you in different capacities A special welcome to our new nsc members dr. Cheryl Remy And mr. Stephen King Sorry dr. Stephen King, sorry We have no doubt that your presence and expertise will add value to our nsc They are joining our team following the end of tours of duty of nsc members dr. Dr. Rosemary husbands and mr. Everistas Jamari Our sincere thanks to you for your service In addition, we extend our gratitude to the cyen project team They are outside tirelessly ensuring that everything is running smoothly. So I don't see any of them here right now But round of applause for them, please They had work dedication and professionalism have been indispensable and we congratulate them on a job well done Last but not least I would like to express our deepest thanks to each and every participant who has taken the time to join us here today in person and virtually Your presence and active engagement have truly made these events a vibrant and enriching experience In conclusion today marks a momentous occasion for not just the sgp program, but all our partners and stakeholders Without the the collective efforts the success and milestones achieved would not have been possible We sincerely thank you for your unwavering support Let us carry the inspire the inspiration and knowledge week Can gain from each other to continue creating positive impacts in our respective fields Together let us continue to strive for excellence push boundaries and create future of innovation Our work is not only defined by the numbers of projects we have supported But on the impact on numerous individuals and communities throughout the island. Thank you right. Thank you, Stephanie and thanks as well to our friends from the gis And mr. Richmond Felix for the it support that we see today So ladies and gentlemen, this comes this brings us to the end of today's Ceremony. I want to thank you so very much for your presence today We are back on track in terms of the the closure. I did promise you know That would bring it back on track. So we in fact, we five minutes ahead of schedule So we want to do a few photographs with the recipients of awards today with minister you minister and and demon