Five entities allocated funds for environmentally-conscious projects under GEF, SGP |04 June 2019

Representatives of the organisations which have benefitted from the grant in a souvenir photograph with Mrs Serumaga after the signing ceremony

Five non-governmental organisations (NGOS) and associations have been allocated funds under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), towards the implementation of projects to tackle pressing environmental problems in Seychelles.

After the last call for proposal just over 6 months ago, resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme Amanda Serumaga, who was currently on a working visit to Seychelles, signed the memoranda of understanding with the chairpersons of the respective organisations in a brief ceremony at Maison Quéau de Quinssy, on Friday last week.

The five organisations, namely, Bee Keepers Association of Seychelles, Futuro Sports Sesel, Local Food Producers Association, Seychelles Farmers Association Praslin Island and the Wildlife Club of Seychelles, will receive the approved funds as of June, enabling them to kickstart their projects which are scheduled to last 1 year upwards.

Chairperson of Futuro Sports Sesel, Lucas Panayi, explained that Futuro Sports intends to raise awareness and engage youths in climate change mitigation through sports. A sum of $40,000 has been approved for the project.

“One of our projects is to go around different fields around Mahé and get the kids involved with clean-ups. There’s not much going on in the Football League Division 1 at the moment so we will involve kids in designing a poster to be printed on club uniforms emphasising the necessity to be environmentally-conscious. We think this might have a good impact and will raise interest in what we are doing,” Mr Panayi stated.

The club also intends to produce a documentary of all the activities and components of the project.

Chairperson of the Bee Keepers Association, Arthur Toule, signed the agreement of behalf of the organisation. Similarly to Futuro Sports Sesel, the association will receive $40,000 in funds for the project to promote bee conservation and towards promotion of association.

The Local Food Producers Association received a total sum of $46,000, $4000 of which has been allocated for the planning process involved in their project. As explained by chairperson of the association Nelson Renaud, the youth-led farming association, comprising 15 members, wishes to nurture a climate smart agricultural system on a hill-side farmland with the aim of increasing affordable local food production on Mahé island.

“The association is based at Anse à la Mouche. Our project aims to increase production of local foods for the local market and the grant will allow us to purchase equipment for terracing and to raise awareness among youths. We will launch a logo competition for our association at school-level and to try and attract youths to the field,” Mr Renaud stated.

A relatively similar project is to be implemented by the Seychelles Farmers Association Praslin Island. The association has been granted an amount of $44,000 for the planning and implementation of their project to expand food production through agro-ecological farming with the aim of reducing imports on the island of Praslin.

The final entity to sign the agreement is the Wildlife Club of Seychelles for a mangrove restoration and management project. A sum of $30,000 has been allocated to the project.

Wishing all the associations the best of luck in their projects, Mrs Serumaga stated that she had the opportunity to visit projects on La Digue and Praslin and that she was impressed to see a lot of them geared towards not only environmental protection and conservation but also livelihoods.

“I can confidently say that the SGP through the UNDP is a mechanism that aims to protect people and provides us with opportunities to collaborate with diverse stakeholders. It is together that we can bring forth innovative solutions to promote and bring economic benefits to build socio-ecological resilience or to simply conserve the natural assets of the Seychelles. To achieve these, we need to be in line with national guidelines and policies and while allowing for participatory approaches where there is an impact on the population,” she said.

“All of you are trying to tackle the impact of climate change in your respective areas. I hope that on my next visit to the country, I can witness first hand some of your achievements and the possible achievement you are anticipating, and the benefits these have brought to your own practices, your community and even for the young generation involved in such actions. Some results take time to come through but our motto is “let your small action, local action, contribute things better for your country and towards global impact,” Mrs Serumaga concluded.