The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Program plans to build on past successes during its sixth program period.

GEF National Coordinator, Giles Romulus, said the organization will focus on sustainable projects based on bio-diversity conservation, poverty eradication and climate change mitigation. Apiculture (beekeeping) is one such project.

“The idea is to build up the apiculture [sector] as much as possible as an industry that is organic in nature, can employ people, [and introduce] new products to the market—and there is high demand for it," he said.

He urged young people with ideas that will fit within the concentrated areas to contact the program, as it was designed to help them.

“They need to have an idea that can address an environmental issue, such as climate change, bio-diversity and so on, that can create some level of sustainable employment and that can build capacity over time. And we will mentor them through the difficulty of the project cycle and help them, and we have the support of the Government of Saint Lucia as well."

The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program (GEF-SGP) was established in 1992 as a corporate program of the GEF. It is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), on behalf of the GEF partnership.