Organisation focused on helping youth
A LOCAL non-profit organisation is doing its part to teach the youth about proposal writing.
According to Co-Coordinator of the Multi-National Fair and one of the founders of Be The Change Barbados, Sharen Lady Carmichael, in order to be considered to receive funds raised from the proceeds of the Multi-National Fair, interested youth groups will have to submit grant proposals.
She made the comments in an interview with The Barbados Advocate during the Fair last Saturday, as she explained that no determination has been made on which organisations will benefit, but the focus will be on disadvantaged youth.
“This is because we feel that that group of people is not really getting the kind of attention it needs to create critical mass for their own change and their own development. What we did this year was ask people to write a grant proposal for funding from us, but unfortunately the grants didn’t come in as quickly as we would like, but there has been interest,” she explained.
Lady Carmichael added, “This is the first year we’ve asked for a grant proposal, because we want to see that institutional building individuals being able to conceptualise, being able to budget [and] being able to account.
“Unfortunately – it is true – but sometimes organisations get funding, and they don’t have to account for it, and then there is the other side where they have to over account for it. You go to one of the international aid organisations and their proposal is 120 pages long... you can get larger sums of money through them, but in order to access it, most people don’t even know how to begin to start to complete one of those proposals.”
Lady Carmichael pointed out that their new requirement for grant proposals would assist the youth in learning how to approach one of the international organisations in the future. Her comments came as she added that last year they were able to donate $100 000 to the Barbados Youth Orchestra, which helped to provide instruments for a number of schools across the island.
“This year, I hope with the proposal from them we will be able to pay for teachers who will teach children who can’t afford the lessons. We have a lot of talent in Barbados, but it is not everyone who can afford to learn how to play a musical instrument,” she noted. (JRT)