Port of Spain, March 6, 2020 – Nine civil society organisations (CSOs) from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago were recently awarded small grants by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) totalling US$ 80,000 to support practical action projects that demonstrate innovation and best practices to enhance coastal and marine biodiversity conservation, build resilience to climate change and natural hazards and support development of sustainable community livelihoods.

The small grants are a key component of the regional project, “Powering Innovations in Civil Society and Enterprises for Sustainability in the Caribbean (PISCES)” which is being funded by the European Union EuropeAid programme. These small grants were awarded under the Caribbean Sea Innovation Fund (CarSIF) facility established by CANARI in 2019 to address priority needs and actions in the Caribbean on marine and coastal resources governance and management.

Over the past twelve (12) years CANARI has managed and administered a number of small grant programmes for civil society organisations in over 18 Caribbean islands on behalf of various donors working in the Caribbean in the areas of biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and resilience, sustainable livelihoods, participatory governance and organisational capacity building. CANARI is using the CarSIF as an important capacity building strategy to increase CSO capacity for participatory natural resource governance and management in the Caribbean.

The successful CarSIF grantees are the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) (Antigua and Barbuda), WildDominique (Dominica), Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine (FoProBiM)
(Haiti), Plateforme pour l’Amélioration de la Pêche Artisanale et du Développement Intégré (PADI) (Haiti), Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM) (Jamaica), Newcastle Bay Foundation (Saint Kitts and Nevis), Mayreau Explorers Multipurpose Co-operative Society Ltd. (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Union Island Environmental Attackers (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) and Future Fishers (Trinidad and Tobago). These CSOs will be implementing projects which focus on biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods, climate resilience and environmental education and awareness. Projects are diverse and range from coral gardening in Haiti and Jamaica, to developing sustainable livelihoods through mangrove-based apiculture and seamoss farming in Haiti and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines respectively, to community-based conservation of the Union Island gecko in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

All projects are expected to be completed by the end of November 2020. The CSOs will receive technical support to implement their projects from CANARI and in-country CSO mentors who have been trained by CANARI in CSO organisational strengthening under the PISCES project.

About the project: The small grant programme to support innovative actions and best practices by civil society for conserving marine and coastal biodiversity and developing sustainable and resilient livelihoods in the Caribbean is a key output of the three-year (2017 to 2020) ‘Powering Innovations in Civil Society and Enterprises for Sustainability in the Caribbean (PISCES)’ project. The project is being implemented by CANARI in partnership with the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C- CAM), the Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organisations (CNFO), the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG), the Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine (FoProBiM), Sustainable Grenadines Inc (SusGren), and the Saint Lucia National Trust (SLNT). PISCES will contribute to addressing priority issues and needs in the Caribbean by enhancing marine and coastal biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods and socio-economic development. See here for more information on the project: https://canari.org/pisces/

About CANARI: The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is a regional technical non-profit organisation which has been working in the islands of the Caribbean for over 25 years. Our mission is to promote equitable participation and effective collaboration in managing natural resources critical to development. Our programmes focus on capacity building, policy planning and development, research, sharing and dissemination of lessons learned, and fostering regional partnerships. See here for more information on CANARI: http://www.canari.org/.: