Project Detail

Promoting the Preservation of Saint Lucia's Natural Pollinators as a means of Maintaining and Building Resilience in the Food Chain in Saint Lucia

This project will attempt to highlight the importance of bees in the general ecology and their use in developing and sustaining a health agricultural system. It realizes that the bee population has been on the decline in Saint Lucia due to natural disasters and anthropocentric forces such as deforestation, urbanization and the use of various chemicals including pesticides. The goal of this project is "to build a strong constituency of support among various publics for the protection of bees as natural pollinators in the food chain". The specific objectives are to: (i) "train 200 young persons in using theatre as a means of educating various publics on the significance of bees as natural pollinators"; (ii) "establish as apiary and an organic farm at the Bordelais Correctional Facility as a demonstration site to illustrate the symbiosis between bees and plants"; (iii)" advocate for policy change for the preservation and protection of bees in Saint Lucia; and (iv) improve and make the internal decision making process of Act Not more efficient".

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

ACT NOW GENERATION

Country:

Saint Lucia

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP5-Y3 (Jul 13 - Jun 14)

Grant Amount:

US$ 39,352.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 5,523.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 12,223.00

Project Number:

STL/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/BD/13/01

Start Date:

7/2013

End Date:

3/2015

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Replication of project activities

At close of project, there was no known duplication of project activities.

Gender Focus

Every effort will be made to factor gender into the selection of project participants.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

No applicable.

Linkages gef projects

None

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Not applicable.

Planning gef grant

Not applicable.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Not applicable.

Planning non gef grant

Not at this time.

Policy Impact

The project has a component which will include the review of policies and statutes related to the protection of species of bees.

Capacity - Building Component

The project will assist the grantee in improving its decision making processes and systems. It will also focus on improving group dynamics.

Project sustainability

The public awareness PSAs will remain critical pieces of any education programme on bees and environmental quality in the future. The organic farming and apiary might not be sustainable unless they are fully integrated into the education and skills development programme for inmates at the Bordelais Correctional Facility.

Policy Influence

There was an attempt to integrate the project into a restorative justice approach but there was no measurable results documented by the close of the project.

Notable Community Participation

There will be significant and sustained interaction with over 200 young persons, as well as selected prisoners at Saint Lucia's main Correctional Facility. The group will also collaborate with another grantee, Mille Fleur Honey Producers Cooperative in prompting the protection of bees.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

This will be the primary focus of the project, id est, the use of theatre to educate and increase public awareness of the importance of bees in the general ecology and for agricultural production.

Project Results

This project had four major components as follows: (i) Capacity Development of the grantee; (ii) Public Education on the significance of bees to food security and environmental quality; (iii) the establishment of a farm which would demonstrate the synergies between bees and organic farming at the Bordelais Correctional Facility; and (iv) the preparation of a legal review of environmental legislation.

By the end of the project, there were four major outputs as follows:

(i) greater clarity of the group?s vision and mission through the preparation of a strategic plan;
(ii) significant understanding of the role of bees in the general ecology through the production and airing (You Tube; Website etc.) of four (4) PSAs which received very good feedback (the PSAs were aired over 276 times on a national TV station between October 2015 and December 2015);
(iii) the establishment of a 2.7 acre organic farm and a small apiary with three hives which demonstrated the synergies between bees and food production; and
(iv) the greater understanding of the shortcomings of specific environmental legislation.

At the end of the project, 91 persons (42 men and 49 women) were trained in areas such as organic farming and bee keeping for inmates at the Bordelais Correctional Facility; theatre and drama for young students; and project management. Through a workshop on bees and climate change, the members of the group understood the impacts of climate change and the decline in honey production in Saint Lucia.

A total of nineteen (19) persons were employed (10 women and 9 men) in areas such as catering, facilitation, organic farming, bus driving and animation. These people earned a total of US$25, 277 (XCD$68,247) of which men earned US$17,049 (XCD$46,032) and women earned US$8228 (XCD$22,216). In terms of sales of honey and entrance fees at the theatrical production, a total of US$796 (XCD$2149) was made.

The group learned many lessons in particular those connected to the lack of forward planning and the inadequacy of clear and constant communication. Perhaps the greatest lessons can be summarised as follows: Without clear and constant communication, planning becomes commensurately more difficult and where there is little or no forward planning, good ideas become more arduous to implement.

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