 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Herma Di Mark. This edition, Stop Stories. Debate on the estimates of revenue and expenditure underpins the government's socio-economic agenda in mitigating the effects of COVID-19. The Ministry of Health extends its vaccination drive for homebound individuals. Taiwan's Ambassador to St. Lu Xia experiences the impact of the ICT education program. Debate on the estimates of revenue and expenditure 2021-2022 came to an end Thursday, March 2021. Underpinning the debate was government's efforts at balancing lives and livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister for Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment Honourable Leonard Montute told the House that in this fiscal year, the ministry will prioritize the development of a graduation strategy to open pathways to its self-reliance for its beneficiaries by facilitating their access to work opportunities. The approach of graduation from social assistance programs does not mean that beneficiaries will lose all forms of support from the government, but rather it means that there will be greater focus on connecting beneficiaries to different resources and establishing a pathway into other forms of support as needed, including skills training, access to microfinance, agricultural support programs and social services, among others. In other words, beneficiaries will be assisted in moving from a place of dependence to one of independence. Other capital projects allotted under the Ministry of Equity include the 10th cycle of the Basic Needs Trust Fund to the tune of $2.045 million, the Home Caregivers Program at $7.7 million and the Youth Empowerment Project at $4.5 million. Honourable Montute indicated that his ministry is actively pursuing opportunities for greater citizen re-involvement in nation-building. We are going to be proposing at an incremental phase initially the return of local government election. We are also working in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to look into the possibility of having local constituency councils collect property taxes, a percentage of which will be retained for their purposes and use in their communities. Minister for Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment, Honourable Leonard Montute. The Ministry of Health has reported that more than 19,000 inclusions have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccination drive is now catering to individuals who are homebound due to age or illness or even immobility. Vaccination teams have been within the communities to reach these individuals within their home setting to ensure their inclusion in the National Vaccination Drive. Many of these people are at high risk of severe COVID-19 due to their age or health conditions. Tecla Jabatis is the Assistant Principal Nursing Officer and Immunization Manager in the ministry. Based on the number of people to be engaged, the Vaccination Committee this week made the decision to continue to target the homebound in the coming week, March 22nd to 26th, 2021. We ask all who require this service to contact the nearest Community Wellness Centre to register for vaccination at home. In early February 2021, the Ministry of Health and Wellness received official confirmation from the Pan American Health Organization of its allocation of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The announcement indicated that this talk would arrive in country at the end of the first quarter of 2021. A total of 74,400 doses were allocated through this platform. With the expectation of receiving the first stretch of these vaccines in the coming weeks, the ministry will then be rolling out Phase 2 of the National Vaccine Campaign. During this phase, mass vaccination will be focused on sectors at moderate risk of exposure to COVID-19. Amongst these will be the transportation, education and tourism sector personnel. As we approach this phase, updates will be issued to indicate the schedule and sites at which the vaccines will be provided. Meantime, the Ministry of Health continues to receive support from private business organizations in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. More in this report from Fresnel, Neptune. The Ministry of Health recently received a donation of COVID-19 vaccine stickers and fuel vouchers from Saul Isselimited and First National Bank to aid in the successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination drive. General Manager of Saul Isselimited, St. Lucia and Dominica, Deborah Raphael Edwards says it was necessary to make a contribution towards combating the COVID-19 pandemic and also giving back to the hardworking nurses. Saul Isselimited as a good corporate partner is when we found out that the stickers were indeed running out and there was a small need within the Ministry. We thought it fit in that we should partner with the Ministry. Given that COVID has been a very difficult time for us in St. Lucia and as you've heard even what Ms. Lodz said, hope. We are early and truly round in the corner. So we decided that we would come on board with the Ministry to partner. We think this is just the first of many opportunities to work with the Ministry. Manager of projects and services of First National Bank, Robert Furious says his organization is aimed at caring for St. Lucia's and giving back to the community. We are here as an Indigenous institution to support you in whatever way that we can and so I extend that support further once it's necessary. First National Bank will be there as an Indigenous institution supporting the Ministry and of course the people of St. Lucia by extension. Director of the Bureau of Health Education Natasha Lloyd-Philix expressed heartfelt gratitude to First National Bank and Saul Isselimited for the donation and says it will be very instrumental in the advancement of the COVID-19 vaccination drive. The Ministry has done so much for us at the Ministry because people came forward when we had none left, asking for their stickers, wanting pictures with their stickers and found themselves in a position to become advocates on behalf of not only the Ministry of Health but for St. Lucia to ensure that we lead the charge collectively as a nation to give hope for a change for the better, a hope for us to return to what's normal and a hope that we now can move forward collectively as a nation to take charge of our health and our well-being. So for you seeing the value of these stickers, which I think is more of a statement than a sticker, says a lot because though small, it's very tangible, it's very meaningful and so we thank you with great gratitude. The Ministry also thanked private physician Dr. Tanya Brubra for her dedication and commitment in mobilizing the private business organizations to support the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination drive. The Ministry of Health received a total of 20,000 COVID-19 vaccination stickers, $1,000 fuel vouchers and Fumaflas bottles. Reporting from the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I am Fernan Neptune. Taiwan's Ambassador participated in an online class of the Sir Iris Simmons Secondary School as he experienced the classroom environment students have become used to online in the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisa Joseph reports. The education system in St. Lucia is coping and adapting to abrupt changes due to COVID-19. The shift to digital learning has posed challenges while simultaneously offering opportunity to enact new teaching methods. As such, authorities continue to innovate in order to provide the best online education experience for teachers and students. The governments of St. Lucia and Taiwan through collaborative effort engineered the ICT in Education project. The project aims to create smart classrooms as a means of tackling some of the issues which include the unavailability of technology and low student morale. Sir Iris Simmons Secondary is one of the schools benefitting from the pilot on this project. Ambassador of Taiwan, His Excellency Peter Chen and officials from the Ministry of Education joined a fifth form class of Sir Iris Simmons to experience the online learning environment. I recently read about a company called Zebling that has used drones to deliver medicine surprise in Ghana since 2016. This year, they have even started to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to rural areas making proper rural works. This is where ICT shines brightest, developing creative methods which help ensure equitable access. The company's founder is Mr. Kader Renado, a young and energetic entrepreneur who loves robotics and ICT. And he is not much older than you all. So you can become the next Kader Renado. Think about what you want to do with your time and effort. Ambassador Chen extended appreciation to the classroom teacher for the opportunity to join the session and for her diligent effort to teach in. English teacher at Sir Iris Simmons Abigail Jean-Joseph said she was honored by the visit. It was an opportunity to present how we integrate technology in the teaching and learning environment and how we try to motivate students and teach them while they're at home. We're also benefitted or we have benefited from a lot of technology, a lot of devices so that our school can become a smart school. And so it was a wonderful experience to show how we use things like Book Creator and Classcraft how we've gamified the Google Classroom so that students can participate fully and be motivated even while at home. Chief Education Officer in the Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations, Dr. Fiona Philip-Mayer was also in attendance. She challenged the students to help motivate their parents to attend classes. Do you know why? The resources have been made available to you. The teachers are trying to be as creative as possible with you, doing things out of the box to encourage you. And I can appreciate it. I know it's been a difficult time. I know that most of us are hard enough, but let us hold on. Let us hold on just a little longer and persevere through these times because they will come to an end. But what we cannot do at this time is to allow for our lack of participation to impact our education. Teacher Jean-Joseph thanked the students for their participation in the fruitful discussion with officials. From the Government Information Service, Lisa-Joseph reports in. Our Saint-Douche continues to celebrate the contribution of women to National Development, Minister for Education, Innovation and Gender Relations and Sustainable Development Honourable Dr. Gail Rigabet lauded the strides made in country. In a statement to the House of Assembly, Honourable Rigabet pointed out that Saint-Douche had distinguished itself as a country where women dominate more than 50% of leadership positions in the public service, private sector and in civil society organizations. Honourable Rigabet also congratulated WPC Brigitte Al-Goudal on becoming the first female Sergeant of Arms to serve in the House of Assembly. Al-Goudal has been a member of the Royal Saint-Douche Police Force for 23 years. I salute the many women who have served on the front lines of the last year and continue to make extraordinary sacrifices as they do their part to preserve the lives of Saint-Doucheans, serve in the various service sectors in banks, supermarkets, markets, community shops, in hotels, nursing homes and caring for the elderly. We recognize in particular our female farmers and women fishers for their part in meeting the need of the population for food. Wherever you may turn your attention from the home to the classroom, the market to the bank, the Heculean efforts of women tell of their commitment to the social and economic development of our beautiful country. The Honourable Minister highlighted some of the strides made by the Department of Gender Relations in recent years, including the development of a national gender equality policy and strategy. Over 100 public officers received training in gender concepts and analysis and a core of accounting and planning officers in the public service were trained in gender budgeting and planning through a CDB funded initiative. This was in preparation for the identification and establishment of gender equality focal points across the various ministries, departments and agencies of government so that we can actually mainstream gender in Saint-Douche's national development. Saint-Douche is one of nine Caribbean countries participating in a multi-million dollar project, enabling gender responsive disaster recovery, climate and environmental resilience in the Caribbean. The theme for International Women's Day this year is women in leadership, achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world. The Saint-Douche Solid Waste Management Authority has taken a major step to improving solid waste disposal on Ireland. Roger Varro Lawrence reports. Given the thrust towards Saint-Douche's new waste management system, a policy decision was adopted to make Saint-Douche landfill-free by 2030. The first phase towards achieving this included termination of landfilling at the V4 Solid Waste Management Facility in 2019 which was well beyond its operational limits. The next phase was commissioning and operationalizing four pyrolysis units at the V4 Transfer Facility. It runs on a pyrolysis where you have oxygen brought in to interact with initial flame for a start. Chamber temperature goes up. The chambers can reach up to 1,100 degrees Celsius. 45 minutes, 60 minutes, your waste will be done. In that intervening process, the waste will be processed in the chamber and then emissions will be brought through the scrubber system and through the filtration system. And via this novel system that's patented, what you get out is vapor and stripped of its emissions. The Saint-Douche Solid Waste Management Authority aims to decentralize waste disposal in the south. The operating cost for one of those machines is estimated in the range of about 5,000 eastern Caribbean dollars per month that's with labour and electricity, water and all of those things. The pyrolysis, even if it costs more than operating at the landfill, however, you don't ever need that battle of trying to find another 30 acres of land in the next 20 years. Commissioning of the units and training personnel to operate them was undertaken in January. This site will be used for waste disposal and data collection which is expected to cause changes in the residential waste assortment system. They will reduce the waste volumes down to so little that you could actually use the current facilities that we have almost for forever because you're pretty much getting rid of ash to a point right now. The implementation of this technology will reduce the quantity of waste being transferred to the north, the cost of transportation, and the impact to the Deglo landfill. The remaining phases will establish facilities at various locations around the island to treat waste closer to the point of generation, effectively reducing transportation of waste. The Curina pyrolysis technology is relatively simple and most of the parts and processes can be managed by local engineers and service personnel. For the Government Information Service, Rajvaro Lawrence reporting. This is Antian Knightley, up next, Primus Hutchinson with Novella Quiole. 2020 is a year that we do not want to revisit it was tough, frustrating and scary. From family to friends to co-workers and clients, someone we know has been affected one way or another from this pandemic. Let us take responsibility for ourselves and the lives of those around us. On an island of 182,790 people, one life lost rocks the entire nation. So let us overcome this together. Wear a mask. Wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water. Stay home and social distance. Share accurate information. Sanitize your hands frequently. Get registered for your COVID-19 vaccine today. Let us bring our society, economy and health back to normal. Together. Together. Together. Together. Together we can win this war. This message is brought to you by the management and staff of Invest St. Boucher. Welcome back. We join Primus Hutchinson for the NTN Novella Quiole. Hello everyone. I am a Department of Investing. I am a former government official at NTN National Television. I am a Prime Minister of Primus Hutchinson. Prime Minister, I am a Minister of Finance. My name is Alaine Chassnay from Clarkea. I am a Director of Investing of Bank of Canada. I am here to support the government. I will do a lot of good. I will continue to support the people here. And I will continue to support them. In October 2020, 48,000,000,000. I will invest £6,900,000. Shasne and Anseki, the year 2000 to 20 is the one that has put a lot of effort as a situation that has existed, especially in the West Coast, which is still half of the time. According to Shasne, this situation is the result of the corona virus. Prime Minister has declared that the corona virus is weak, so he has been able to cover the damage that is needed to save the economy here. Prime Minister Shasne has declared that the money that the government has invested in 2020 will not go down to $277,000 because it will go down to $2,019,000. It will go down to $218,600,000. The result of this is Prime Minister Shasne. Prime Minister Shasne has declared that the money that the government has invested in 2020 will go down to $843,000. Prime Minister Shasne has also declared that the majority of the money that has been invested in the economy will go down to $109,000. The government has also declared that the tax that the citizens pay to pay the tax is $109,000. Prime Minister Shasne has also declared that the tax that the citizens pay to pay the tax is $7.67,000. According to Prime Minister Shasne, the corona virus will go down to $7.67,000. In particular, in the tourist sector and in other sectors that can advance in the country. Prime Minister Shasne has declared that all these things that the government has invested in 2020 will go down to $109,000. Prime Minister Shasne has also declared that the government will go down to $1,000,000. Prime Minister Shasne has also declared that all these things will go down to $2,000,000. Prime Minister Shasne has also declared that the government will go up to $1,000,000. and that's 40.7 million more than in 2019 or 2020. But even so, it's only $78 million lower than I expected in 2020, to be $3.5 million in October. Governor-General, for this year, you have to pass the polet-luisis. Recently, you have to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, and for this year, you have to encourage this year to protect your family and your loved ones from the corona virus. According to the polet-luisis, I have already taken the vaccine a long time ago, hoping that it will be very comfortable for them. The polet-luisis said that I have already found the vaccine for Malaria, which has been used in Africa, and I have also had Tipewes, which is the new vaccine. But then, I have to say that I have read the vaccine, and that if it is used and balanced, it is an advantage against what can not be an advantage regarding the vaccine. He decided for himself, if I place confidence in the doctor so that he can be disappointed, he will still be confident. Governor-General, you have to pass the polet-luisis. It is a decision that I have made voluntarily, but to take advantage of the vaccine, and to take advantage of the Tipewes vaccine, but to take advantage of the other individuals who are fighting the virus, and to take advantage of the vaccine. To take advantage of the vaccine, it is a good way for us to take advantage of the vaccine, because we all know that we can turn the vaccine around, we can turn it around on social media, we can talk on the internet, on WhatsApp, on television. Exist the professional safety that can be cut off. So, it is a good way for us to take advantage of the other individuals. So, Governor-General, to take advantage of the only confidence in the doctor's polet-luisis, that is the only one question. So, the vaccine is not difficult, because polet-luisis is a good way to take advantage of the virus. Governor-General, you have to pass the polet-luisis. The vaccine is a good way for us to take advantage of the virus. And also, the coffee that you know, it is necessary, even if you can't take advantage of it, to take advantage of the vaccine. Governor-General, the Ministry of Health, Construction and Health, especially, we are working on a project to improve the operation of the vaccine, by applying a strong power, and by doing so, among these projects, it is to place the vaccine, in a way, to control the speed that we are driving around, that is, the speed bumps, and also the traffic signals, and also the traffic marks, to help us to drive around, to make it more comfortable to drive around, so that we can serve our own vaccines. On the other hand, it is also a good way for us to build our own stadium, to take advantage of the virus, and also, to take advantage of the virus. And also, we are working on a project to improve the operation of the vaccine, by applying a strong power, to make it more comfortable to drive around, and also, we are working on an initiative, to educate the public, to help them to find a way to drive around, to drive around, to make the vaccine more comfortable. The Ministry of Health, Construction and Health, I will do everything to serve my country, and also, to help the people, to obey the traffic signals, and to stop the speed that we are driving around. So that we are supposed to start, so that we are supposed to start, and so on. Mr. Veldam, we are going to end this news here. I want to thank you all for watching. I want to have an invitation, so that I can continue, so that we can serve our country, so that we can present the news to the world. I wish you all a good fitness this week, and I wish you all the best. Thank you very much.