The Saint Lucia National Conservation Fund awards grants

March 7th 2023

by SLNCF

The Saint Lucia National Conservation Fund (SLUNCF) hosted a signing ceremony at the Hewanorra House, Pointe Seraphine, Castries for the award of four Grants from its 4^th Call for Proposals in support of food security and nature-based solutions aiding economic recovery from COVID-19.

The event concluded a process that started in November 2021, when the SLUNCF issued a Call for Proposals for an opportunity to be awarded grants ranging from USD$2,000 to USD$20,000. Subsequently, a total of 21 applications were received. After a thorough evaluation process, 4 Proposals were selected for funding.

The successful Grantees and Projects are listed below:

Faux-a-Chaux Development Committee (FAC)- “Faux-a-Chaux Community Afterschool Program (FCASP) Kitchen Garden Project”;
The Forestry Department -“Feral Pig Management for Nature Conservation and Sustaining Rural Livelihoods”;
Iyanola Apiculture Collective (IAC)- “Improving Honey Bee Health in St. Lucia”; and
The Mushroom Collective -“Supporting Climate Smart Mushroom Production in Babonneau, Saint Lucia”.

The CEO of the SLUNCF, Mr Craig Henry highlighted that, ‘these grants represent a strategic investment in activities which have the potential to assist in the national thrust towards securing our local biodiversity; generating employment from indigenous activities and importantly, increasing our local food supply’. The SLUNCF will be working closely with the Grantees during the implementation of their respective projects so that where possible, project outcomes can be replicated and upscaled. “

In her welcome remarks, Mrs Karolin Troubetzkoy, chairperson of the SLUNCF congratulated the grantees and encouraged community groups that applied but were not chosen to remain in contact as the SLUNCF was working feverishly to create more opportunities and use innovation, best practice and strategic investments in support of national conservation and sustainable development priorities.

Funding for these Grants is made possible through a Partnership Agreement between the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) and the SLUNCF. The Board and Secretariat of the SLUNCF also encourages all applicants whose submissions were not selected for funding and the public in general to remain vigilant as there will be other calls for proposals in the coming months.#

About the SLUNCF

The SLUNCF is dedicated to the conservation, restoration, and effective management of Saint Lucia’s biodiversity and natural resource which also includes working towards and building national capacity for the creation of sustainable livelihoods.

The SLUNCF was established as not-for-profit incorporation in 2016 and is part of a network of regional conservations trust funds forming a Caribbean region sustainable finance architecture, at the core which is the CBF, and whose main aim is to act as a long-term conservation finance mechanism for nationally determined natural resource conservation priorities.

To find out more information about the SLUNCF and its subgrant programme Application Guidelines please visit our website at www.sluncf.org.