CDB funding in St. Lucia - Caribbean Development Bank

Transcription

www.caribank.org/
CDB IN
ST. LUCIA
GROWING THROUGH CHANGE
CONTENTS
The CDB Way............................................................................................. 2
Meeting Needs – Supporting Growth......................................................... 4
St. Lucia: Crisis and Change...................................................................... 6
Quick Facts & Development Indicators...................................................... 9
Working with the People of St. Lucia........................................................ 11
SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND UNIFIED (SDFU) PROJECTS
BUILT FOR SUCCESS............................................................................. 12
ROOM TO LEARN................................................................................... 14
WATER FOR FAMILIES........................................................................... 16
CARING ABOUT HEALTH....................................................................... 18
SAFE FROM FLOODS............................................................................. 20
RECLAIMING CASTRIES........................................................................ 22
SWEET WORK......................................................................................... 26
MEMBERSHIP
Based in Barbados, the Caribbean Development Bank is owned by 26 member
countries including 18 regional borrowing members, 3 regional non-borrowing
members and 5 non-regional members.
Regional Members (BMCs)
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada,
Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands
Regional Members (Non-BMCs)
Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela
Non-Regional Members
Canada, Germany, Italy, People’s Republic of China, United Kingdom
*BMCs – Borrowing Member Countries
CDB MISSION STATEMENT
CDB intends to be the leading catalyst for development resources in the
region, working in an efficient, responsive and collaborative manner with our
BMCs and other development partners, towards the systematic reduction of
poverty in their countries through social and economic development.
CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: ST. LUCIA
The Caribbean Development Bank is
working together with you to reduce poverty
through community-driven social and
economic development.
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Partnerships for poverty reduction
The CDB Way
Despite the Caribbean’s social and economic progress, too many people
still face the challenges of poverty (76% of people in Haiti and an average
of 26% in other Caribbean countries). CDB is meeting that challenge
in partnership with communities throughout the region, offering muchneeded loans, grants, equity investments, guarantees, policy advice, and
technical assistance. These funds come from Ordinary Capital Resources
and Special Fund Resources. The Special Development Fund Unified
(SDFU) accounts for 90% of these Special Fund Resources and is one of
CDB’s most vital sources of funding.
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As the Caribbean’s premier regional financial institution, we’ve learned that the
most effective pathway to development is actively listening to and partnering with
the people in our member countries and with our development partners around the
world. Through the Special Development Fund Unified, we work together for:
Broad-based Economic Growth and
Inclusive Social Development
Environmental Sustainability and Disaster risk Management
Gender Equality
Good Governance
Regional Cooperation and Integration
OrganiSational Efficiency and Effectiveness
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Meeting Needs
Supporting Growth
The Special Development Fund Unified (SDFU)
The CDB’s Special Development Fund Unified offers funding for high-priority
development needs.
With support from several contributors, the SDF was
established in 1970. Then, in 1983, the Special Development Fund Unified was
created to streamline the Fund’s operations. Funding for the SDFU is replenished
every 4 years. The SDFU has its own governance structure and there is an Annual
Meeting of Contributors to agree on the Fund’s areas of priority for the next four-
year cycle. These negotiations take into account the economic and social situation
in the Borrowing Member Countries, the international and regional environment,
and CDB’s capacity.
The SDFU is currently in its 7th cycle, covering the period January 2009 to
December 2012. Priorities for this cycle are:
Strengthening poverty reduction and human development
Supporting environmental sustainability and advancing
the climate change agenda
Supporting regional cooperation and integration
Enhancing development effectiveness
Active engagement with the community is key to how the SDFU works. The
programme is able to respond effectively through a participatory approach engaging communities in assessing their own assets and determining their priority
needs for funding. This process encourages critical thinking, decision-making and
involvement in solutions that benefit the community.
The Special Development Fund Unified (SDFU) supports several programmes that
reduce poverty and support social and economic development:
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The Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF)
The Caribbean Technological Consultancy Services (CTCS) network
Social & Economic Infrastructure
Low-Income Mortgages
Student Loans
Loans to Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF)
This is a direct, targeted poverty reduction programme, whose mission
is to empower and equip communities with necessary resources, and improve
their access to basic public services. BNTF grants improved access to health
services, education, water and sanitation, and other community needs. Funding is
channeled toward projects that reduce people’s economic and social vulnerability
to risks that affect income and well-being.
Caribbean Technological Consultancy Services (CTCS)
The CTCS provides subsidised Caribbean technical expertise to
organisations and enterprises in CDB Borrowing Member Countries. CTCS
services include project planning, evaluating new and expanding businesses,
training, resolving production and maintenance problems, and quality control
applications. It is a regional consultancy network that supports entrepreneurship
and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Human Resource and Productive Sector Development
The CDB provides lines of credit to national development agencies and regional
governments. This funding enables eligible students from low-income households
to access loans for higher education, low-income mortgages for people in need
of homes, and loans for small and medium-sized enterprises in agriculture and
industry, for the expansion of the Caribbean’s productive sector.
Social and Economic Infrastructure
SDFU funding also improves infrastructure that makes daily life and productivity
possible, including roads and schools. Special attention is paid to making
infrastructure more resistant to the effects of disasters such as floods and hurricanes.
Countries such as St. Lucia, with several coastal communities dependent on
fishing and tourism, are particularly vulnerable to these threats.
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ST. LUCIA
Crisis and Change
In Canaries fishing village on St. Lucia’s west coast,
men sit mending torn nets. Women stand on the steps
of wooden homes talking to their neighbours, while
children make their own boogie boards out of pieces of
light wood and surf the waves. Later that evening, as the
sun sets, a golden light illumines the faces of fishermen
dragging their canoes up the sand, away from the sea’s
pull. Women, men and children, conversing loudly in
kwéyòl, collect on the pier in the changing light. Two
little girls sing and twirl: “I am a promise, with a capital
“P”. I am a great big bundle of Potentiality!” They are.
The sea is ever-present below steep hills: In Castries,
where the growing capital, with several new buildings,
curves around a deep-sea harbour; in villages spreading
at river mouths and in valleys throughout St. Lucia’s
mountainous terrain; and in bustling towns such as
Soufrière, home to the island’s infamous volcano. From
Soufrière and Choiseul in the south one can see the
pointed peaks of the still green Pitons, a World Heritage
Site. These are the idyllic images of St. Lucia that often
greet tourists, but beyond these picture-perfect views
is a small island society in the Eastern Caribbean, a
member of the Caribbean Development Bank, that is
both vulnerable and resilient.
Due to its strategic location and landscape, St. Lucia
was fought over by different European colonial powers,
particularly the French and the British. Many people
speak French kwéyòl as well as English, the country’s
official language. In 1979, the island gained independence
from the United Kingdom and has since become a
member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM),
the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS),
the Commonwealth of Nations and the Organisation
internationale de la Francophonie.
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Yet in an increasingly interconnected world, St. Lucia’s
island economy is even more vulnerable to global
economic shifts. For example, the crash of the banana
industry with the removal of preferential European trade
agreements and the impact of hurricanes, has forced
a largely unprepared population to struggle against
unemployment: finding other ways of earning income
and learning new skills. Some people still do small-scale
farming, but the country’s economy has shifted from a
focus on agriculture, to a greater dependence on tourism,
which accounts for 65% of GDP and is the main source
of jobs and income for St. Lucia.
Tourism has brought its own challenges in relation to
environmentally and socially sustainable development.
Furthermore, St. Lucia’s tourism still leaves the country
vulnerable to global changes, such as the decline in
visitors from the United States and Europe in the wake of
the recent global financial crisis. St. Lucia is also exposed
to the effects of climate change, as well as to natural
disasters such as earthquakes, landslides and hurricanes
such as Hurricane Debby and Hurricane Tomas, which
had devastating effects in 1994 and 2010 respectively.
According to the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), while extreme poverty or
indigence has declined between 1995 (7.1%) and 2005
(1.6%), estimates of vulnerability suggest that economic
or environmental shocks can plunge an additional 16.2%
of the population of St. Lucia into poverty. High public
debt - 78% of GDP in 2012 - only makes it more difficult
for the country to manage adverse shocks.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is working
with the people of St. Lucia to address these areas of
vulnerability and engage in sustainable development.
This includes supporting better access to quality
education, from the early childhood level, to adult
training and literacy. St. Lucia has produced two of the
three Nobel Prize winners from the English-speaking
Caribbean – Sir Arthur Lewis in Economics and Derek
Walcott in Literature. Yet universal secondary school
education only came on stream in 2006/7. In addition
to access to education, St. Lucia manifests the wider
Caribbean need for a changing education system that
prepares graduates for a knowledge, creativity and
technology-driven world.
The Caribbean Development Bank, through the Special
Development Fund’s Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF)
plays a key role in meeting people’s basic needs such as
clean water, housing, health centres and schools. At the
same time, CDB recognises the increasing importance of
going beyond basic needs in education: to build capacity
in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM), to connect St. Lucia’s rich arts and culture to
business and industry, as well as to give students the
orientation and tools to become entrepreneurs.
CDB is also supporting preventive health and efforts to
reduce the debilitating impact of chronic, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, on the
population. In so doing, CDB has supported the Government of St. Lucia in implementing an Economic Reconstruction Programme (ERP) that upgrades health centres
and schools, their facilities and services, throughout the
country. In different communities, infrastructure was put
in place to mitigate the impact of floods, hurricanes and
other natural disasters. CDB also took the opportunity
to support fledgling business initiatives that generate income and reduce unemployment.
There is still a need for systems that focus on disasterrisk reduction, support skills training and small business
development, encourage innovation in education, and
foster environmentally and socially conscious tourism
and agricultural diversification. CDB partners with St.
Lucia to address these issues, encouraged by this island’s
rich human, natural and cultural resources. St. Lucia has
survived through the hard work and creativity of its
people. It is these people that the Caribbean Development
Bank empowers, helping them not only to adapt, but to
grow through change.
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8
ST. LUCIA
Quick Facts &
Development Indicators
Capital
Castries
Size/Land Area
616 sq km (237.8 sq mi)
Major languages
English (official), French Kwéyòl
Monetary unit
East Caribbean Dollar (EC)
[EC dollars per US dollar:
$2.70 (2012 est.)]
Population
162,781 (July 2013 est.)
Population growth
rate
0.36% (2013 est.)
Labour Force by
Occupation
Agriculture 10%, Industry 14.3%,
Services 75.7%
Unemployment
20.6% (Youth ages 15-24 – 45.2%)
EDUCATION
Net Enrolment Rate Primary: 92.6%
(2012 est.)
(2012 est.)
Net Enrolment Rate Secondary: 88.1%
(2012 est.)
Living with poverty
28.8% of population (2006 est.)
Living with extreme
poverty
1.6% of population (2006 est.)
Exports
$555.8 million (2012 est.)
Imports
$526.2 million (2012 est.)
Export commodities
Bananas, Clothing, Cocoa, Avocados,
Mangoes, Coconut Oil
Import commodities
Food, Manufactured Goods, Machinery
and Transportation Equipment,
Chemicals, Fuels
Export Partners
Import partners
Brazil 78.8%, USA 8.4%,
Trinidad and Tobago 5.1% (2011 est.)
Colombia 21%, USA 14.9%, Peru
8.5%, Antigua and Barbuda 8.1%,
Dominica 7.9%, Barbados 7.1%,
Trinidad and Tobago 6.6%, UK 5.6%,
Grenada 5.4% (2011 est.)
* Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); CIA World Factbook; United Nations
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Working with the People OF ST.
LUCIA
St. Lucia joined the CDB in 1970 and by the end of 2012, approvals for funding had totaled $US387.4M, comprising
$US360.9M in loans, of which 46.3% ($US167M) was funded by the Special Development Fund
Unified (SDFU), and $US26.5M in grants. Of this amount, $US8M was directed toward technical assistance
grants and $18.5M went toward the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF). CDB funding in St. Lucia is used for
financing social and economic infrastructure such as schools, road and water projects, building more disaster-resistant
structures, and supporting community skills training and empowerment. CDB-funded projects are administered
through the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) Office at the St. Lucia Social Development Fund (SSDF), as
well as Government Ministries such as the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Health.
The St. Lucia Social Development Fund is the combination of the Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) and
the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF). The Fund is dedicated to providing services to vulnerable, poor and
socially deprived communities within St. Lucia. Projects are done in collaboration with locally-led village councils,
non-profit organisations and other community and civic groups.
ST. LUCIA CDB Funding
(1970-2012)
360.9M
$US
Loans
Tech
Assist.
Grants
8.0M
$US
BNTF
18.5M
$US
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BUILT FOR SUCCESS
“This school used to be called “the chicken coop,” Judy
Johannes, Principal of the Ti Rocher Combined School
reveals, “Anybody who felt they wanted the best for their
child wouldn’t send their children to this school.” Grade
6 student, Bernelle Joseph, elaborates, “Well, in the old
school, the classes were separated by blackboards. It was
hard to study in the class, because it was very loud. So
you wouldn’t hear the teacher all the time.”
Principal Johannes continues, “We had a roll of over
300 children then, and they were sitting one on top of
the other. The roofs were leaking very badly. Classes
would have to stop and we would have to huddle in the
centre of the school when it rained. You could only use
the bathroom when it wasn’t raining. The roots of a tree
had cracked the building and no matter how much we
cleaned the bathroom that both students and teachers
shared, there was a terrible smell.”
Ti Rocher
REBUILT SCHOOL
CAPITAL LOAN (ERP)
333K
$US
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These conditions were overwhelming to the staff of
nine teachers. “And that, I kept telling the Ministry of
Education, was the reason why we were failing. The
conditions were really not conducive to learning.” So,
with CDB funding, the school was rebuilt with seven
separate classrooms, a covered Assembly area, a staff
room, Principal’s office, kitchen, as well as clean and
well-built bathrooms for students and teachers. Now
they have a resource room for teaching materials, a
garden and play area, and a Special Education class with
a qualified teacher.
“Coming into the new building, we felt re-energised.
The students felt like they could achieve. The parents
came on board; they were excited.” In the new learning
environment, Principal Johannes saw an immediate
change in the children’s attitudes and academic
performance. “We moved into our new school in January,
and by June of that year, with the same staff, we moved
from being the second to last school, to scoring above
the mean in our exam results.”
Rebuilt to become a more child-friendly space, with
funds from the CDB, the Ti Rocher students have gone
from consistently failing, to helping their school place
first in its district two years in a row.
“Coming into the new building, we
felt re-energised. The students felt
like they could achieve. The parents
came on board; they were excited.”
Judy Johannes
Ti Rocher
School Principal
ROOM TO LEARN
“You’re a child of the universe, so climb your mountains
high. You are the chosen one, to try and touch the sky!”
The children at Forestière Methodist School sing out.
The school began in the 1890s in a largely farming
community, to primarily serve the East Indian indentured
workers brought by the then British government. The
Moravians first owned the school and they handed it
over to the Methodists in 1913. The only school in the
community, today Forestière has diverse graduates in
every walk of life, including education.
Forestière
Many years ago the school was kept in the church
building, but it soon outgrew that space. Now there are
90 students at the school and years without upgrades
had taken their toll. Althea Ernest, teacher for 30 years,
Principal of Forestière Methodist for 10, describes the
former state of the building: “The walls were cracked;
the floors had holes in them. Parts of the school were
actually split - the walls were leaving the sides. We even
had a bucket in one area, because the roof was leaking.”
CDB funded a much-needed renovation, including
space for a new computer lab, a new kitchen for the
school-feeding programme, a new roof on the building
housing the kindergarten, and classrooms for (Grade 6)
“CDB funded a muchneeded renovation,
including space for a
new computer lab, a
new kitchen...roof on
the building housing
the kindergarten, and
classrooms for Grade 6
students.””
Althea Ernest
Forestière
School Principal
SCHOOL REHABILITATION
CAPITAL LOAN (ERP)
183K
$US
Schools and Health Centres Nationwide
ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME
CAPITAL LOAN (ERP)
6.5M
$US
children preparing to enter secondary school. The final
year in primary school is crucial for St. Lucian students.
Universal secondary education only became available
in St. Lucia in 2006/7. Children still need to take an
examination (Common Entrance) at the end of primary
school and their grades determine the level of secondary
school in which they are placed. This secondary school
placement, in turn, can affect one’s chances of accessing
quality university education in the Caribbean.
So, as Principal Ernest says, “It is very important that
we are housed in a building that is comfortable: better
working conditions, better school conditions, being
exposed to some of the modern technology that can make
learning more interesting, more fun. Giving our children
every advantage, so that they can learn.”
Olissa Ferdinand is one of the Grade 6 students to
benefit from the school’s renovation. With a top-flight
education, she has set herself high goals. “I will be the
first person in my family to become a judge. I’ll be the
first person in my family to do law. Sometimes people
might say, “You’re useless. It’s not important; you can’t
do it. That’s not true. We can do whatever we put our
mind to.”
These school upgrades were part of the CDB-funded
national Economic Reconstruction Programme (ERP) rebuilding 11 schools across the island and improving
education for St. Lucia’s children.
15
WATER FOR FAMILIES
The blue, orange and yellow-striped boats come in
overflowing with kingfish, dolphin, dorado, tuna and
snapper: brightly-coloured and still beating. Men in
bell-like straw hats and bright orange overalls, stand in
the boats as they come in. They gut and clean the fish
in seawater and weigh them on the jetty, to be sold to
crowds of people, young and old, who’ve come from all
over St. Lucia to Dennery, one of the island’s most wellknown fishing villages.
Ann Jn. Baptiste was born and raised in Dennery. “We
live here as a united people. If I have fish, I give you fish.
You have meat, or you have some yam, whatever it is,
you give it to me. So we unite with each other; we live
as one. We live as a family.” However, in this growing
fishing village, 40% of people had no pipeborne water
at home. Now that Ms. Jn. Baptiste has three children of
her own, lack of access to running water made everyday
life difficult.
Dennery
NEW WATER SYSTEM
277K
$US
Ann Jn. Baptiste
Dennery Resident
“Life before the water was real hard. We had to be
walking, like, half a mile to go for water in a standpipe
and come back home. For the day, you probably have
to do that about five or more times. You would leave
younger children with barely older ones to go looking
for water. Or if you have a child at the age of four months
and you have to go for water, the distance…because of
that you have to hold the child on the side, while you
have a bucket on your head. So imagine if the child just
move: You in trouble. You could end up losing your child
because of that.”
CDB funds were used to install an extended water system
to the homes of people like Ms. Jn. Baptiste. Through the
Basic Needs Trust Fund, CDB funded tanks and pipelines
that brought water to over 440 residents. It began with
providing water to the main part of the village, then
expanding to the hillsides where squatter settlements
were being rationalised, over time, by the government.
BNTF managed the installation of pipelines throughout the
area and funded extensions from the roads up to residents’
houses. The water is on a metred system that helps reduce
wastage and encourage the timely payment of bills. BNTF
also funded workshops for the residents on issues such as
water conservation.
A clean, regular water supply is key to the villagers’ health
and it saves them time and money. The benefits of the
system extend to all areas of life, including other key basic
needs, such as housing and education. Ann Jn. Baptiste’s
life has changed because of this initiative, along with
the lives of her children: “Since the water, I purchased a
washing machine and whatever time I come from work,
I put the clothes in the machine and then I could spend
more time with my children, I could help them with their
school…their homework etc. But before I had to go and
sit and wash God knows where. I didn’t have time for the
children. So life now has been easier for us.”
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CARING ABOUT HEALTH
“This is the only health centre in the Grand Rivière
community. And added to that, most of the services are
free, because it’s a government-owned, governmentfunded agency. So it’s just what everybody needs: free
service.” Leona Prospect Gabriel has been a nurse for
decades. She has seen first-hand the ‘before and after’
CDB-funded improvements to the Grand Rivière Health
Centre.
Grand Rivière is one of 15 health centres nationwide,
renovated with funds from the CDB. Through the
Economic Reconstruction Programme (ERP), health
centres were expanded and rebuilt, with new examination
rooms, waiting areas, and equipment. Health care
workers were also trained to use a digital system, the
National Health Management Information System, to
keep better track of patient records and public health
data that make patient care more efficient and help guide
health interventions.
“I started coming to this health centre about 11 years
ago and I’ve lived in this community for 13 years. I
began coming to the health centre when I was pregnant.”
Jacqueline Garrier was the Project Manager for the
health dimension of the Economic Reconstruction
Programme. “ERP came about as a result of a natural
disaster, Hurricane Debby. We recognised that some of
our health centres, which are also often our hurricane
shelters, were inadequate to provide that kind of service.
Some health centres had not been renovated in 1530 years. We took a look generally at our health care
facilities and realised that it was time to improve the
working conditions and services.”
There’s been an improvement in the care offered at the
Grand Rivière Health Centre. More people come for
preventive care such as screenings, vaccinations and
health information, not only when they are sick. The
Health Centre’s new examination rooms and modern
equipment are better equipped to handle emergencies.
This can save lives.
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Grand Riviere
HEALTH CENTRE UPGRADE
CAPITAL LOAN (ERP)
155K
$US
Health Centres AND Schools Nationwide
ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME
CAPITAL LOAN (ERP)
6.5M
$US
Leona
Prospect
Gabriel
Community
Health Nurse
Nurse Gabriel recalls one example: “A child, about a few
months ago, came in with an asthma attack. We were
able to utilise our new equipment to have him nebulised,
improve and go home.” Before the improved health centre,
this child’s family might have had to risk the long travel
necessary to take him to the nearest hospital, or pay for
private care they could not afford.
Merleana Souza
Community
Health Aide
The healthier working conditions have brought out the
best in the nurses and staff. “I love the interaction with
people,” Nurse Gabriel lights up, “seeing people improve,
seeing people with smiles, getting better with the services
that I offer. So here I’m still continuing in the field, till I’m
ready to go.” CDB has enhanced the working conditions
for hundreds of health care providers and their clients,
creating access to better healthcare for all.
“Grand Rivière is
one of 15 health
centres nationwide,
renovated with funds
from the CDB.”
Jacqueline Garrier
Project Manager
ERP Health
SAFE FROM FLOODS
“Growing up in a fishing village, for me,” shares Jude
Regis, Project Coordinator of the Flood Mitigation
Project, “it’s always been fun and tremendous, as I love
fishing. I still remember the days right here on the beach.”
Mr. Regis grew up in Anse La Raye, a fishing village on
St. Lucia’s west coast. On the coast, between two rivers,
Petit and Grand Riviere, the village, prone to flooding,
was almost destroyed by Hurricane Debby in 1994.
Juliana Arthur remembers the destruction, “The water
rose so high that people had to row small fishing boats
through the streets to rescue everyone and take us from
our homes to the shelter” in the parish hall. The water rose
to four, sometimes six feet. Some residents had to swim
to safety. It was a blessing that no one was killed. George
Regis, Jude’s father, a resident and a construction worker
in the village, describes the state of the community each
time it flooded: “People lost a lot of their belongings,
because the floodwater went into the houses. Mattresses
got wet; fridges were spoiled. And after the storm, there
was no running water for weeks, no electricity.”
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Anse La Raye
FLOOD MITIGATION
CAPITAL LOAN
5.45M
$US
“With CDB funding...the drainage system was
expanded and two reinforced bridges were built, large
enough to accommodate the rivers during storms.”
When he went to help with the clean-up effort, Jude
Regis was deeply moved: “Having a look at people,
their faces, how despondent they felt, how helpless they
felt… I think that was one of the reasons that led the
Government into really paying attention to the village.”
They commissioned studies into ways of mitigating
the flooding and preventing such disaster in the future.
With CDB funding, in partnership with the Ministry
of Infrastructure, Port Services & Transport, the main
river was widened, with reinforced banks. The drainage
system was expanded and two reinforced bridges were
built, large enough to accommodate the rivers during
storms.
The people of Anse La Raye got help to clean up and
rebuild after Hurricane Debby. Then, in 2010, Tropical
Storm Tomas struck: a hurricane far stronger than Debby
with more winds and more rain. Yet there was minimal
damage to the village. Everyone, including George
Regis, noted the difference: “If the main bridge wasn’t
built – that flood mitigation project – a lot of people
would have been drowned in the village. So that project,
I can say, was a success.”
21
RECLAIMING CASTRIES
St. Lucia’s capital city, Castries, is on the coast below sea level,
surrounded by steep hills and struggling with an antiquated
drainage system. Each year flooding cost thousands of dollars
in damaged property and threatened the livelihood of people
throughout the city, particularly in shopping areas such as the
Vendor’s Arcade and Castries Market, both located near to
Castries harbour.
“When we are facing hurricanes, storms, or tropical
depressions, the city used to be flooded very very much,”
Sylvia Valcin Calderon of the Vendor’s Arcade vents her
past frustration. Agatha Winnifred, a vendor in the Castries
Spice Market, was also affected by the heavy flooding, “Our
goods would be wet and damaged and people could not
walk through the market. The water used to be very high.
Sometimes when the children come from school, people used
to carry them on their back.” Sylvia continues, “And it’s very
troubling to us vendors, because we cannot move the way we
Castries
FLOOD MITIGATION
CAPITAL LOAN
5.45M
$US
22
want. Even the tourists, they cannot move the way they
want in here, when it is raining.”
The vendors were not the only ones to lose income or
assets in the flooding. Castries is a central location for
several businesses, key public offices, as well as private
and international corporations in St. Lucia. Suzette
Lewis-Jean, Senior Economist, paints a picture of some
of the damages, “In the past, it was horrendous. Shops
would be flooded and people would lose a lot of revenue.
Sometimes during the heavy flooding, we would be at
work. Through the windows we would see the water
rising and the vehicles afloat in the water. Then we
would see the water subsiding slowly and the vehicles
would either be in the drain, or in a complete mess in
the road.”
To address the problem, CDB funded a multi-pronged
flood mitigation project that included the construction of
24
a flood retention pond/catchment area at the St. George V
Park, a large pipeline leading out to Castries Harbour and the
installation of several pumps throughout the city, for moving
excess surface water into the sea.
“Well, for now, it doesn’t flood the way it used to before,”
Agatha Winnifred says in relief. The market still needs
upgrading, with better vending stalls and facilities, a roof that
doesn’t leak and signage to attract customers. In the wider
streets of Castries, Suzette Lewis-Jean confirms, “There is
still scope for improvement but it is much better now.” And,
in the Vendor’s Arcade, right on the bay, in full sight of the
harbour where cruise ships come in with potential customers,
Sylvia Valcin Calderon can do her job and take care of her
family. “As a small-business person, I take it very seriously.
I have four kids and I have sent all of them to school through
vending. From where it used to be then and now, I find the
flood mitigation is very good for me and for my country. And
I’m looking forward for more development.”
Castries Market, vendor arcade and Bus Station
Flood Catchment Area,
St. George V Park
Agatha Winnifred
Castries Market Vendor
25
SWEET WORK
In southern communities in St. Lucia, such as Choiseul,
unemployment can be above 20%. In this context, it is
even more difficult for persons with disabilities to gain
employment. So the National Council for Persons with
Disabilities sought funding to develop training projects
and small business collectives in carving, sculpture and
beekeeping.
Steve Joseph, of the NCPD, explains why the Council
saw potential in beekeeping: “We felt beekeeping was
necessary for our people, our persons with disabilities,
because it doesn’t require all that much energy. It doesn’t
require a vast portion of land. It doesn’t require a large
labour force. There is also a high demand for honey in
St. Lucia and worldwide.”
Steve Joseph
National Council
for Persons
with Disabilities
Balenbouche
Laborie
HONEY PRODUCTION
& MARKETING
CAPITAL LOAN
32.5K
$US
26
CDB funding provided training, hives, equipment, and
storage facilities for the Council to start its bee business.
In addition to a main apiary with about 17 hives, at
Balenbouche Estate in Choiseul, one hive and four boxes
were given to each trainee to cultivate honey on their
own. Training was offered by the Ministry of Agriculture
in bee management and inspection, honey production &
by-products, business development and management.
So participants learned not only how to cultivate and
care for bees, but also how to extract and bottle honey.
Most importantly, they also received training in business
management skills such as accounting, invoicing,
pricing, packaging and marketing – which help to ensure
the proper management of a small business. CDB also
helped fund a storage shed for participants’ equipment,
protective gear and materials at Balenbouche Estate,
since they had difficulties carrying them from the main
road all the way onto the estate.
Since Balenbouche has no access to electricity, the agroprocessing takes place at another site in Choiseul. They
do not use weedicides, pesticides or artificial ingredients.
The group, now called the Farmers with Disabilities
Beekeeping Association, makes 100% organic honey.
The demand for honey worldwide is not being met
because of the negative effects that climate change and
the removal of forests and natural vegetation, for housing
or large-scale farming, have had on bee populations. The
new bee farmers are also mindful of the environment
needed for the bees to flourish and to combat pests and
diseases.
CDB funds were also used to develop wax by-products
such as candles and soaps, on sale along with jars
of organic honey, at La Papel Arts & Craft Centre in
Laborie. The shop attendant, Cynthia St. Brice, has
had a restorative journey through the CDB-funded
project. “At first,” she said, “I was scared of bees! I was
not comfortable with them around me. But having stayed
around them, working, training, I got a passion to work
with them. I was a schoolteacher and I suffered a stroke in
2004. The rehabilitation process was very difficult. I had to
start from scratch. I could not move from my bed. Then, as
I got better, I could move around the house slowly, then go
out to my yard. I never said, “Why me?” And right now,
I am not 100% yet, but I can say thank God: I can walk
around without a cane, I can drive, I can come to work, I
can go to the hives and manage my hives.”
The group would like to expand to other shops throughout
the island and develop their products for export as well.
Thanks to the Caribbean Development Bank, Cynthia,
Steve and other persons with disabilities, now own fledgling
bee businesses, working toward creating meaningful
employment for themselves and others.
At the heart of the Americas, the Caribbean’s contribution to world culture and history far exceeds
its size. However, as small states and economies, CDB’s Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs)
are highly vulnerable to external shocks like global economic shifts and natural hazards. Their
economies, once based heavily on sugar, bananas, bauxite and other raw materials, have been
rocked by the erosion of preferential trade agreements that were carried over from colonialism into
independence in the 1960s. Ill-equipped for the global shift toward trade liberalisation, and facing
rising debt and unemployment, BMCs have been compelled to develop strategies for mediumterm economic transformation and sustainable growth, poverty reduction, and strengthening their
resilience to economic shocks and natural hazards. Their ability to implement these strategies has
been constrained by large fiscal deficits and high levels of public debt. CDB and its development
partners in the region and abroad mobilise significant financial resources to achieve these goals.
In addition to offering technical and financial expertise, this funding is offered as grants and
affordable loans to governments, communities, businesses and institutions invested in positive
social and economic change throughout the region. The Special Development Fund Unified
(SDFU) is the cornerstone of the funding offered by CDB, making it possible for countries to
identify and achieve their vision for development.
Copyright © CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT BANK All rights reserved.
Reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited
other than for individual use only and may not be recopied and shared
with a third party. The permission to recopy by an individual does not
allow for incorporation of material or any part of it in any work or
publication, whether in hard copy, electronic, or any other form.
Caribbean Development Bank
P.O. Box 408, Widley, St Michael
Barbados BB11000
T: (246) 431-1600 • F: (246) 426-7269
Website: www.caribank.org

CDB funding in St. Lucia - Caribbean Development Bank

Transcription

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