RESEMBID grants over EUR 3 million for seven projects in select Caribbean OCTs
March 9, 2022. St Maarten. Five national and two regional projects have been granted just over EUR 3 million for development work under the themes of resilience, sustainable energy and marine biodiversity by the RESEMBID programme.
RESEMBID, funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France – the development cooperation agency of the Government of France, supports sustainable human development efforts in 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) – Aruba, Anguilla, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Barthélemy, Sint Maarten and Turks and Caicos.
The funds were awarded to the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and St Maarten as well as the regional bodies, Caribbean Electric Utilities Corporation (CARILEC) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
The 3 million euros have been allocated to the projects as follows:
1. The ACS received EUR 269,402 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 EUR 467,715 for its sustainable energy project titled, Overcoming Disruptions In Times Of Crisis – Weathering The Social And Financial Impact Of COVID19 On The Electricity Sector.
3. The VNG International with support from the Government of St Maarten has received EUR 1,000,390 to implement a project focused on crisis management and building resilience.
4. The Anguilla National Trust has received a budget of € 587,024 to implement a project that will work on the transformation of Anguilla’s Marine Parks through institutionalizing 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 EUR 432,210 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 EUR € 203,384.00 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 an OCT regional leader in protecting marine biodiversity and improving resilience.
7. Lastly, € 203,384 was granted to Adapting to Covid-19: Technical assistance to support CCMI’s capacity to be an OCT regional leader in protecting marine biodiversity and improving resilienceCCMI will also implement a project focused on increasing coral reef resilience with a budget of € 257,950. 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 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 quickly rolling out many more in the months to come”.
In addition to these contracted projects, RESEMBID has almost 50 additional projects and concept notes approved or under review for funding.
RESEMBID commenced on 1st January 2019 and is financed under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Caribbean OCT Regional Programme. It is being implemented by Expertise France, with the primary stakeholders being the 12 Caribbean OCTs.
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