The main mission of the Paramin Development Committee (PDC) is to encourage, promote and foster educational, social and cultural activities in the Village of Paramin. Since the idea inception for this project the PDC has partnered with Vetiver TT, a local company led by Jonathan Barcant who is the T&T representative of non-profit The Vetiver Network International (TVNI), whose mission is to promote education of the Vetiver System (VS) and its use as an environmental and affordable tool to overcome many land and water based challenges and an organic ?glue? for sustainable development.
Please refer to Figure 1 in Appendix A.
With the PDC?s mission and the extensive local and international knowledge and experience of vetiver grass? many uses, provided by Vetiver TT and TVNI, position the PDC and Vetiver TT very well together to create a hands-on practical and educational platform within the community to disburse knowledge and carry out example projects, as has already been shown by keen interest of registered participants.
The greatest problems which this project addresses in the Paramin Community are soil and water related challenges such as land slippage and erosion; on farmlands, around roads and other infrastructure, and private residences. It also addresses less obvious issues such as loss of valuable topsoil and rainfall runoff during heavy rains, which is key for improving land fertility over the long term in hillside farming especially; and the heavy uncontrolled use of toxic chemicals in modern-day farming, most importantly glyphosate or ?round-up? which is a ?kills-all? land clearing chemical that destroys all plant and soil life, and was responsible for the loss of vetiver grass installations from the community where it was confirmed present several decades ago.
The main project stakeholders are the members of Paramin community who will be participating for vetiver system installations on their lands, which will also serve as ?example projects? for the community, as well as those who will partake in the crafts-making component of the project. The participants will play an active role in project design by identifying areas on their property in need of assistance, and will work alongside experts and trained installers from Vetiver TT combining their in-house workshop learnings to plan the required solution, prepare the site, install the vetiver system and maintain correctly until fully established. Participants in the ?handicrafts and vetiver products? component will identify what aspects and items/products interest them most, so that the majority of training can be focused on that with them setting goals to master the preparation/creation of these certain items.
The goal of the project is to re-introduce knowledge of vetiver grass? many uses where it was once before but has been lost, and to raise awareness on the toxic agro-chemicals which not only destroy vetiver grass, but also greatly damage eco-systems and soil health.
The main results expected from this project are that sufficient community participation and example projects, together with the creation of vetiver supplies and educational material in the community, will create a ?cascade effect? whereby the community recognizes the inherent benefits of this affordable and easy to implement ?green? solution such that they take ownership of the knowledge, continuing to share it and assist others to implement where needed on their own lands beyond the timeline of the project itself.
Key activities throughout the project?s program will include in-house educational workshops on vetiver grass? many uses, installation of projects to resolve challenges on participants? lands, creation of vetiver supply nurseries for the community, training for an interested group of individuals on vetiver handicrafts making, the creation of educational material (brochure/handbook) for community use into the future, and the successful video documentation of the project ? both technical educational components and community benefit components ? so that others could be inspired to learn about vetiver grass and other similar green technologies, and could possibly be inspired to replicate the project in other areas nationally or regionally.
The total cost value of the project including funding required and in-kind contributions from the community, Vetiver TT and other supporting organizations is $53, 076 USD, where the total funding amount being requested from SGP for the project is $49, 413 USD.