Coral Reef Restoration

The Project

Project title: "Community-based coral restoration and livelihood diversification in St. Lucia and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines" 2021-2023 was conceptualised by Dr. Owen Day and his team at Centre for Livelihoods, Ecosystems, Energy, Adaptation and Resilience in the Caribbean Limited (CLEAR Caribbean) https://www.clearcaribbean.org/ .It is supported by funding from the Inter-American Foundation and co-financed by the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund. Other partners include the Philip Stephenson Foundation, TradeWinds Ltd. and the Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP). WAM has partnered with CLEAR Caribbean Ltd and we are responsible for executing the project objectives here on Mayreau. The project is expected to conclude November of 2023.

Goals & Objectives

1. Recruit and train coral gardeners.

2. Establish nurseries for Elkhorn and Staghorn corals.

3. Capacity building for WAM.

4. Generate community engagement.

5. Develop a strategic plan for the organisation.

6. Development of a tour to ensure the project's continuity and financial sustainability. www.reef-life.org

Goals, Objectives, Accomplishments

To date we have:

1. Recruited and trained a team of 8 coral gardeners.

2. Established 3 coral nurseries (1 Elkhorn and 2 Staghorn) with the capacity for 3540 corals.

3. As an organisation we have been exposed to training in QuickBooks, leadership, team building and strategic planning.

4. In addition to the local community we have engaged the support of the business community. Our partnership with TradeWinds Ltd (an international cruise company with a base on Mayreau), has resulted in the donation of a compressor, a 40ft shipping container (that is being retrofitted for office, storage and compressor) and a floating platform. The owners have generously donated Turquoise Dream (TD), their very first Catamaran, which has been overhauled and refurbished as a floating platform. TD will be beautifully situated in the Tobago Cays as a major attraction to our tours.

Mayreau Community Centre

Project Background.

The Mayreau Community Centre project was launched in December 2016. The project's key focus is to create a safe space where children, adults, micro and small enterprises (MSEs) have easy and reliable access to advancement opportunities all with the aim of improving access and participation. It sort to do this by achieving the following objectives:

1. Renovate, rehabilitate and reopen the Robert Divonne Community Centre (RDCC).

2. Establish a recognised community library.

3. Develop and introduce after school programs and formal adult education classes.

3. Establish a space for training and business development.

4. Establish strategic partnerships to ensure programs are being consistently offered.

5. Develop and introduce sustainable financing mechanisms to cover operating expenses.

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Milestones and accomplishments

OUR LIBRARY

Building on the work begun by MEDO and reintroduced by Lorne and Nancy Saul Demers, the We Are Mayreau team set out to make the community library an integral part of the community and a place of learning. Our goals were to obtain furniture, books for all groups, games, laptops, tablets and free internet. Additionally, we aimed to support after school programs, adult education classes and a salaried position for the library. Although our human resource and programming needs aren't fully realised the RDC Centre is home to a vibrant community library supported by the National Public Library and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC). In addition to books, we provide patrons with access to games, arts and crafts, internet, desktops, laptops and tablets. Our library supports after-school programs and formal adult education courses ranging from basic skills to CSEC. In December 2017, we launched our first "Hats Off to Reading Literacy Campaign," which has since grown to culminate with a tea party and hat contest.

Our hours: 2-6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

BUSINESS SUPPORT

In our effort to support micro and small businesses in our community, we have established a space at the RDC Centre to support training, workshops, meetings and conferences. We have partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority, the Mustique Charitable Trust, and other governmental and non-governmental organizations to provide a variety of trainings in tourism and hospitality, fisheries and maritime, business development, training for educators, and many other areas.

PRINTING SERVICES

Recognizing the need for affordable and accessible printing services as a means to support businesses, the Centre, with the generous support of Lorne and Nancy Saul- Demers was able to launched these services in December 2018. Grant Funded from our top 10 place in the Business Plan Competition under the Women's Empowerment Program by the Republic of (China) Taiwan September 2022 provided further financial support to expand on our printing services.

Sustainability

The next phase of the Centre project focuses heavily on financial and human resource sustainability, Over the next three years (September 2023 to August 2026), we will invest in financial products, and staff recruitment and training to ensure the Centre's sustainability. Follow us for more details as we develop this aspect of the project. You can support our efforts by donating to We Are Mayreau Inc.

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