The Tete Morne Primary School and the Dominica Community High School are among selected learning institutions benefitting from a programme seeking to achieve environmental sustainability and alleviate poverty.
The UNDP’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme which started in Dominica in 1994, funds projects that enable communities to enhance or conserve their environment.
National Coordinator Agnes Esprit says the programme is helping make a difference.
“We presently have a project with the Tete Morne Primary School where they are going to be doing Organic Farming and Green House Farming,” she confirmed.
“We have a project at the Dominica Community High school where we are helping them to become a Green school”.
She pointed to practical benefits from that initiative.
“Recently they installed solar panels on their roof, so they are going to be paying much less electricity than they were doing before and at the same time contributing to preserving the environment,” Esprit told a group of students at the Waitukubuli National Trail Interpretation Facility at Pond Casse as part of World Environment Day activities on Tuesday.
Since joining the programme Dominica has received GEF grants totaling over $1 million benefiting seven national projects.
These include three in biodiversity and two climate change-related projects.
Initiatives currently being pursued include a toloma processing facility in Delices.
“We have some projects in Delices being spearheaded by women involved in toloma production. The women will be processing toloma for the entire community and district.
Currently there is a lovely building being constructed which will be used as a toloma factory,” Esprit disclosed.
Great initiative. Keep it up.
Tete Morne you are in the right direction.Please sell me some flowers plants when I come to visit you all.I want to enhance my yard.
Trust that this programme wiil continue to encourage farming and agriculture in the community. We must not forget that we came from the soil so we need to eat what the soil produces in order to sustain our bodies.
We must also encourage each other to treat the environment with respect since we are an extension of the environment.
Congrats Tete Morne I am so proud of you keep up the good works and don’t look back.