The âKnow Your Rightsâ campaign to stop Gender Based Violence in Saint Lucia was officially launched during a press conference at the French Ambassadorâs residence this morning. This nationwide communication campaign aims to raise awareness among the public, and more specifically among women and young girls in Saint Lucia, who are victims of violence.
A very promising start for Unite Caribbean, which has successfully positioned itself on new missions: new clients and new territories on the horizon.
Unite Caribbean organised a 5-days study visit for 12 French Gateways to Global Careers students in Martinique, to meet local business and develop ideas for increased cooperation between the islands.
Reopening of the collection points since the end of 2021 and extension in Grenada
The official launch of French Gateways took place on February 3rd, with the Minister of Education, SALCC and Unite Caribbean.
Launch of the French Gateways to Global Careers: an educational programme to promote cooperation between Saint Lucia and the French West Indies
Unite Caribbean recently signed two key partnership agreements to develop cooperation in professional training in the Caribbean.
Unite Caribbean is very happy to officialise its partnership with the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, the leading tertiary learning institution in Saint Lucia. We hope that this partnership will signal the start of long-lasting collaboration between Saint Lucia and her French Caribbean counterparts in the field of education and economic development.
The SALCC will play a key role in the FORPRO project, by offering the “French Gateway to Global Careers” Programme to 15 Saint Lucian students. Resolutely geared towards professional employability and entrepreneurship, the programme will focus on the key sectors of tourism and agriculture. Courses provided will be divided between theory and practical sessions.
The overall goal of the “French Gateway to Global Careers” Programme is to improve the mobility and economic development of Saint Lucianâs students and young entrepreneurs through cooperation with French overseas territories. Private sectors partners are being contacted to ensure the success of the programme.
The Alliance française network is acknowledged worldwide as major provider of quality professional training in French, delivering recognised certificates in French proficiency. Unite Caribbean is proud of include Alliance française in Saint Lucia into the FORPRO framework. Indeed, one of the main components of our TVET project is to teach technical skills in French to Saint Lucianâs students and young entrepreneurs to improve their mobility with the French overseas territories.
All students enrolled with the “French Gateway to Global Careers” programme will therefore benefit from a dedicated French training, focused on professional vocabulary related to the tourism and agricultural sectors. If they manage to pass the final exam, they will earn a recognised certificate from the Alliance Française.
FORPRO is funded by the French cooperation through the French Embassy for the OECS countries based in Saint Lucia. It aims to improve professional integration and increase exchanges between French and Saint Lucian vocational and higher education institutions.
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.
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.
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. âFrom 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 protocolsâ, 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.
âDespite 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.
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.