Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 05, 2021 (SKNIS): The Department of Youth Empowerment is hosting a series of training in the coming weeks and months designed to improve the effectiveness of youth groups in meeting their goals in service to their respective communities.
In an interview with the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) on Thursday, February 04, 2021, Shenisia Puran, Youth Officer, said that the capacity building training sessions are timely and aim to “improve the quality and effectiveness of youth development services and to create youth access opportunities and play a significant role in community development.”
Ms. Puran said that the sessions are important and will prove beneficial to the groups.
“These training sessions would benefit them in the development of their groups so we could see how far they are in terms of how effective the club is. We are trying to empower them to enhance their structure so that they could be more effective in whatever they are trying to do,” said Ms. Puran.
It is hoped that the youth groups would have more to offer to the communities after completing the training.
The capacity building training sessions will run for the entire year with the first slated for Thursday, February 11. All groups desirous of participating must be registered with the Department of Youth Empowerment. Groups can sign up for the sessions on or before Friday, February 12 for free. A fee of EC $50 will be charged for groups that sign up after February 12.
All sessions will begin from 5:00 and last until 6:30 pm every second Thursday of the month at the Department of Youth Empowerment Conference Room on the top floor of The Cable building located on Cayon Street in Basseterre, St. Kitts.
All health and safety protocols will be carried out given the current COVID-19 environment. A schedule was implemented for the first session on the topic ‘Youth Work and the Principles of an Effective NGO’. This session will be attended by group presidents only.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 22nd , 2020 (ZIZ News): In efforts to enhance civil society’s capacity and partnerships with the public and private sector to improve access to climate finance and delivery of climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Caribbean, a Green Climate Fund (GCF) readiness project was launched on Thursday.
The project “Enhancing Caribbean Civil Society’s Access and Readiness to Climate Finance” is being facilitated by “The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and the Department of Economic Affairs and Public Sector Investment Programme.
CANARI Senior Technical Officer & Project Manager Dr. Ainka Granderson in speaking at the launch outlined the aim of the project.
This project’s goal is to address these challenges and enhance civil society’s capacity including the knowledge, skills and organizational structures of National NGOs, non profits and Community based organizations and networks to access and deliver climate finance in the Caribbean. It seeks to enhance the enebling institutions so that civil society has voice and can actively participate in adaptation and mitigation and building resilience nationally and regionally.”
She outlined the focus of the four components of the project.
“There are four key components to the project, focused on (1) strengthening mechanisms for civil society engagement and consultation in decision making at the national and regional level; (2) increasing uptake of innovative climate change solutions among civil society organizations and their partners to scale up impact with a focus on community based and ecosystem based solutions that build socioeconomic and ecological resilience; (3) strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations to directly access and deliver climate finance through the GCF and other funds and (4) enhancing awareness and actions to integrate civil society led interventions and strengthen the overall pipeline of the projects to the GCF.”
Also making presentations at the launch were National Coordinator & Civil Society Liason Terry Morris, Director in the Department of Environment June Hughes and Senior Policy Analyst in the Department of Economic Affairs Auren Manners.
The Green Climate Fund readiness project is being implemented from 2020-2022 by CANARI as the delivery partner in partnership with national designated authorities across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States, with targeted activities in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Suriname.
It is funded by a US$1.29 million grant from the Green Climate Fund’s Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme.
The project was launched ahead of International Day of Climate Action which is observed on October 24th.
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