From left: Chief Executive Officer of the Pinelands Creative Workshop, Sophia Greaves; David Bynoe, National Coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Programme; Project Consultant Rodney Grant; and Ryan Byer, Officer in Charge of the UWI Open Campus, in talks following the launch of the Social Enterprise Training Programme, under the Social Enterprise Approach to Eco-Tourism Project.
High hopes
The Pinelands Creative Workshop (PCW), in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Project Services under the GEF Small Grants Programme and with further support from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, has launched a Social Enterprise Training Programme.
It is one of the activities under the “Social Enterprise Approach to Eco-Tourism Project”, geared towards teaching social enterprise concepts to at least five NGOs engaged in Blue Economy enterprises, in order to facilitate socially responsible and sustainable businesses.
Project Consultant Rodney Grant noted that the overall goal of the “Social Enterprise Approach to Eco-Tourism Project” is to create sustainable and socially responsible Blue Economic businesses in the eco-tourism sub-sector, through engagement in social enterprise business models and concepts.
Chief Executive Officer of the Pinelands Creative Workshop (PCW), Sophia Greaves, while speaking at the launch held yesterday at the UWI Open Campus, The Pine, St Michael, expressed high hopes for the project.
“As a result of this project, it is foreseeable that the application of the business disciplines will expand on aquaculture, opportunities in ocean-based renewable energy, marine bio-technology and in initiatives focusing on blue carbon and climate change mitigation and resilience,” she said.
In the interim, the project will work with select NGOs to examine and adopt the social business models as a further sustainability measure, while promoting the Blue and Green Economy agendas and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) mandates. Collaborations with UWI Open Campus and TVET will also be established, to allow for the further development of a course and/or NVQ in Social Enterprise, to institutionalise training for the eco-tourism and the related sub-sector of the Blue and Green Economy, in the interest of long-term sustainability and development.
PCW has meanwhile noted that participating NGO’s and individuals, namely PAREDOS, the Barbados Youth Business Trust, Caribbean Youth Environmental Network (CYEN), BARNUFO and Eco Rebel, will all get the opportunity to understand the dual approach of combining the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline. Following the official launch, training will commence on Monday March 9at the Marcus Garvey Institute, Errol Barrow Park in Wildey, St. Michael. (RSM)