Financial Mechanism and Resources

The CSO's have been resurrected after a long period of dormancy. They do have community projects and ideas but all of it was being done over the years only with their in kind and volunteered resources. Government budgetary resources  are scarce and very limited and what if anything is provided is mainly technical but no financial support. However over the past 12-18 months, the GEF /SGP National Coordinator has been carrying out a lot of training in project and proposal writing all over the island and results are being seen. There is good support from the Community development Division who requested the island wide training. Little by little, one by one the proposals are being funded and this is a source of encouragement to the groups. Several of these are biodiversity projects with the  local knowledge of the many value and uses of the plants, and also their origin. However to do the in depth research and technical documentation requires equipment, supplies and  the development of a centralized area where the local people  can come to share, requires  financial support. The NC had organized monthly  capacity building forum where 35 CSO's gather in the Conference Room of the Environment Division to share, hear the voices of other groups and begin to develop partnerships. This has led to groups offering support to each other. These groups include churches involved in development programs who want to engage their members in action programs that impact the societies. In these communities much information exist but in the communities engagement is on an informal level especially with the elders and older people who have the information in their head. Very few books are written and it requires a certain level of organization, equipment and skills to begin to document our plants and animals especially those most adapted to climate change with temperatures rising, droughts occurring for longer periods. It is so very important for us to capture this information from the older people for the information is not being passed down from one generation to another, but making documentaries can be useful in capturing some of the information.