hurricane Caraïbe

Unite Caribbean’s action to tackle climate change during CoP26

by with No Comment Climate and EnvironmentUnite Caribbean EN

Climate change is the greatest challenge of our times. It knows no borders, no administrative or natural barriers. It affects vulnerable populations the most, and disproportionately impacts Small Islands and Developing States (SIDS) which are among the smallest contributors to CO2 emissions.
As the Cop26 in Glasgow approaches, Unite Caribbean is mobilised across the board.

A dedicated support to Haiti for CoP26

During the lead up to the Conference of the Parties, Unite Caribbean provided targeted consulting services to Haitian delegates. The team worked on preparing and drafting the Haiti Adaptation Communication, one of the key documents required within the framework of the Paris Agreement. Dr Kénel Delusca, Unite Caribbean’s Director for Environment and Climate Change, also acted to strengthen the Haitian delegates’ capacity and will support the negotiators in Glasgow CoP26.

During the months prior, the team also worked with UNDP to develop a training plan for the Ministry of Environment and responsible agencies’ staff in the area of climate adaptation. In the longer term, Unite Caribbean was additionally missioned to support institutional capacity building in Haiti to enhance the country’s readiness to access funding from the Green Climate Fund.

Raising awareness with civil society organisations

Unite Caribbean also works alongside civil society organisations regionally to strengthen climate resilience. Through its PAIRCC project and now Karayib Klima, the team has supported the creation of civil society networks and the implementation of climate resilience projects. 13 projects are currently ongoing in Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Saint Lucia and Saint Martin, addressing the challenges of water availability, food security, private sector resilience or climate change awareness and education.

During CoP26, Unite Caribbean has planned a virtual meeting to discuss the issues at stake. A whole day webinar will bring Caribbean CSOs together to exchange about the impacts of climate change in the region, and to brainstorm recommendations for adaptation. The virtual meeting will take place on November 4th and will be followed by two face-to-face workshops on November 5th, happening simultaneously in Martinique and Haiti.

Our pledge to Net Zero

As a consulting firm, Unite Caribbean is conscious about its own carbon footprint. The team is committed to limit its emission as much as possible to reach Net Zero in the coming years. A CO2 emission calculator is currently developed to monitor the progress made, and evaluate carbon compensation when reduction is limited.

Meet us at the CoP!

If you would like to meet with us during CoP 26, kindly send us an email.

Communication workshop Saint Martin

Communication workshop for two civil society organisations in St Martin

by with No Comment GovernanceProjects

Unite Caribbean organised and delivered a 5 days workshop in Communication for two civil society organisations in St Martin. This training was delivered as part as the capacity building project for St Martin CSOs supported by Fondation de France.

More than 20 participants benefited from the training, with the objective to develop their communication skills internally and towards their beneficiairies.

communication workshop saint martin

Both CSOs were among the organisations identifed to receive personalised support during the implementation of the project.

Unite Caribbean organised similar workshops in the pasr few months. Dedicated support was given on various topics, from communicating with vulnerable women, to financial management best practices and governance issues.

Visit the project page to know more about our activities.

Logo Unite Caribbean

A new visual identity for Unite Caribbean!

by with No Comment Unite Caribbean EN

Unite Caribbean celebrates its 4th birthday with a major overhaul of its website and brand new colours! The company’s logo also underwent small changes.

4 years strengthening Caribbean regional cooperation

Since September 2017, Unite Caribbean is on a trailblazing mission: promote cooperation between Caribbean countries. The team now counts 12 permanent staff, including the two co-founders Thomas Chollet and Damien Bauchau. Unite Caribbean’s reach covers the entire region: the firm is headquartered in Guadeloupe, with a fully registered branch in Saint Lucia and representative offices in Haiti, St. Martin/ Sint Maarten and Canada.

In 4 years, Unite Caribbean’s team and 30 associated consultants have delivered around 40 consulting missions and projects, with budgets ranging from 20,000 to more than 1,000,000 d’euros. Unite Caribbean worked on cooperation issues related to sport, waste management, local governance, infrastructures, education and climate change adaptation across the region, from the French West Indies to Haïti, Saint Lucia and OECS countries or Dutch overseas territories.

A unique approach

Over the past 4 years, Unite Caribbean brought its unique expertise to the Caribbean: capacity building to local public actors and civil society, feasibility studies, strategic positionoing with a focus on promoting Caribbean experts. Unite Caribbean also designed and implemented ambitious regional projects like the Projet d’Appui à la Résilience Climat Caraïbe (PAIRCC) or the first plastic collection and recycling management project in the OECS (RePLAST OECS) which pilot phase in saint Lucia is coming to an end.

Unite Caribbean’s unique dual approach is its core strength: its expertise in providing consulting services while conceptualising and managing development projects. With its consulting services, Unite Caribbean develops a high-level analysis capacity. With its project competency, Unite Caribbean gets an in-depth, on the ground knowledge, of the Caribbean.

Colours and Sectors

Changing Unite Caribbean’s colours came from the will to align the company’s visual identity with its core focus sectors: promoting the development of a more sustainable Caribbean. The blue referring to the sea was then replaced by a dark green which refers more closely to Unite Caribbean’s attachment to promote environmental and social issues. A bright green was added to show the firm’s solution-and action oriented approach. The sand colour remains to mark continuity and Unite Caribbean’s strategic roots in the region.

The new visual identity also alllow the firm to re-affirm its focus on its 4 core sectors: Environment and Climate, Water and Waste, Governance and Economic and Social.

To know more about our achievements and our team, visit the About us page and don’t hesitate to contact us!

RePlast OECS creating a plastic waste recycling value chain

RePLAST-OECS Pilot Projects Completes Phase 1 With Key Targets in the Bag

by with No Comment Press releaseProjectsWater and Waste

Castries, September 1st ,2021. LAugust 31st marked the completion of Phase 1 of the RePLAST OECS Pilot Plastic Recycling Project, with all key implementation targets met. Against a long-term plan to create, pilot and replicate a novel end-to-end process for plastic waste management in the Caribbean, the Project was launched in May 2019 as a non-for-profit public private initiative by the Caribbean consulting firm Unite Caribbean with Saint Lucia serving as the pioneering Pilot Country.

Implemented over a two-year period, the Pilot phase focused on research, design and testing.
A community-led andincentivized Plastic Waste Collection System involving Public, Private and Local communities has been established in partnership with Gros-Islet town council, Vieux-Fort town council, the Laborie Development Foundation and CYEN. At August 31st, RePLAST-OECS has 254 trained volunteers attached to its four collection points. Hotel partners to date are Bay Gardens Resorts, Harbour Club, Coconut Bay and Hotel Chocolat.

In 21 days of operation since community collection begun in four areas, more to 65,000 lbs of plastic bottles has been collected, and effectively diverted from the Deglos Landfill. More than 41,000 ECD has been redeemed by the +1,700 registred patrons in cash value, creating livelihood opportunities for saint lucians..

Following the dispatch of two Experimental Shipments of Saint Lucia stockpile of plastics to the partnering recycling plant in Honduras in May and June 2020, the volume collected by the pilot phase is currently baled to be exported in the coming weeks by two selected recyclers, equipped and trained by the project to support commercial shipments.

LThe Initiative is now entering a period of review and assessment of the outcomes, with recommendations to guide the eventual upscaling of the system in Saint Lucia, and its replication in the OECS. This would then result in a sustainable recycling programme in Saint Lucia and the OECS Countries.

Unite Caribbean ascribes the achievement of its milestones to the committed coalition of Public and Private Sector Partners, Community Partners, Volunteers and the Patrons. “From a project management perspective, having to deal with a major pandemic is the kind of challenge no project wants to have to deal with it. Yet, REPLAST OECS met its planned implementation timeline, give or take a few months lost, due to the mandatory periods of enforced nationwide protocols”, said Project Director, Shanta King. This, she went on to say, was recognized and commended by representatives of the collation of project donors in the final reporting meeting.

“Despite the economic downturn, Saint Lucian companies who truly endorse and support recycling still agreed to support the incentive programme. And despite the sobering reality of life during COVID-19, Community partners and volunteers stood up as the face of the Project, something which has been as effective as our educational outreach in motivating others to reuse and recycle plastics, said Thomas Chollet, CEO of Unite Caribbean

The pilot project of RePLAST OECS was mainly funded by the Government of France represented in Saint Lucia by the French Embassy. Additional funding was provided by development agencies GIZ, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF SPC), Massy Stores, Heineken Saint Lucia and the Coca-Cola Company.

The period September to December shall see a review of the system to adjust and develop Phase 2. Collection activities may be reduced to fortnightly collections.

New funding streams are being pursued to support the continuation of the project in Phase 2, which can hopefully be expanded island-wide in 2022.

collage

Success for the first RePLAST OECS collection point!

by with No Comment ProjectsWater and Waste

On Saturday 16th, our team in Saint Lucia, supported by a dedicated volunteers, set up the first of the six RePLAST Collection Points, piloting the incentivized collection of plastic waste. In one day, around 442 kg of plastic bottles were collected.

Persons participating in the collection and delivery of plastics beverage containers were entitled to rewards via a Rewards card for which they can register online at www.replastoecs.com. To date, 339 people in Saint Lucia registered with the reward programme.

The RePLAST-OECS Project is creating a sustainable model for the efficient management of plastic waste which can be adopted in other Caribbean countries. It has been selected by Ubuntoo, the digital platform benchmarking and connecting worldwide sustainable solutions to showcase our innovative plastic waste management and recycling initiative in the Caribbean SIDS.

Read more on the project here.