Five national and two regional groups will receive 3 million euros from RESEMID to carry out sustainable human development projects.
RESEMID said the grants were awarded to the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Sint Maarten, Caribbean Electric Utilities (CARILEC) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
The allocations are as follows:
1. The ACS received 269,402 euros to undertake a sustainable energy project around advancing collaboration as a strategy for building tourism crisis resilience in OCTs of the Greater Caribbean.
2. CARILEC received 467,715 euros for its sustainable energy project titled Overcoming Disruptions in times of Crisis – Weathering the Social and Financial Impact of COVID-19 on the Electricity Sector.
3. The VNG International with support from the Government of Sint Maarten has received 1,000,390 euros to implement a project focused on crisis management and building resilience.
4. The Anguilla National Trust has received a budget of 587,024 euros to implement a project that will work on the transformation of Anguilla’s Marine Parks through institutionalising sustainable and collaborative management solutions that support long-term management plan implementation for the benefit of Anguilla’s marine biodiversity, coastal resiliency, and its people.
5. The Cayman Islands received three grants. The first was 432,210 euros which was awarded to the University College of the Cayman Islands to implement a renewable energy and sustainable development training programme for the College.
6. The second Cayman Islands grant of 203,384 euros was awarded to the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) for its project on adapting to COVID-19 to ensure project continuity and providing technical assistance to support CCMI’s capacity to be a Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) regional leader in protecting marine biodiversity and improving resilience.
7. Lastly, CCMI will also implement a project focused on increasing coral reef resilience with a budget of 257,950 euros. This project will build research capacity at CCMI, provide expertise to conduct thermal tolerance experiments, and improve restoration strategies.
Fabian McKinnon, Programme Director for RESEMBID, said: “For the last three years, the RESEMBID team has worked quietly and diligently with applicants in the 12 Caribbean OCT islands to ensure their project ideas are developed into full-fledged projects.”
“We could not be prouder of the owners of these projects, and are happy to be part of their journey to bring these sustainable ideas in resilience, sustainable energy and marine biodiversity to life. We look forward to supporting the OCTs in quickly rolling out many more in the weeks and months to come.”
The Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity Programme (RESEMBID) commenced operations on 1st January 2019, and will be implemented over a period of 58 months.
The Programme is funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France to support the sustainable human development efforts of the 12 Caribbean OCTs, namely: Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, and Saint Barthélemy.
RESEMBID is financed under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Caribbean OCT Regional Programme, and is currently involved in over 40 projects in the region.
