August 7th, 2024 -- St. Kitts and Nevis received positive news from UNESCO that promotes thegovernment’s sustainable development agenda.
Through the federation’s envoy to the agency, the St. Kitts and Nevis NationalCommission for UNESCO was informed that three (3) grants had beenawarded to the Federation to receive technical and financial support in the fieldsof education, biodiversity and gender policy implementation, all aimed atstrengthening institutional capacity.
Approximately US$60,000 will be forthcoming from UNESCO under itsParticipation Programme to enable the Federation to implement the final stagesof the national accreditation of qualifications scheme, roll out the nationalgender policy framework and elaborate a plan for sensitisation towards thetransformation of the St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve into a plastic-free zone.
Secretary General Ms. Dorothy Warner noted: A major part of this funding isdedicated to education policy, covering the professionalising of the nationalteaching force; integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) intothe national curriculum and strengthening the Federation’s NationalAccreditation Framework. We are very happy to benefit from UNESCO’sunique expertise in these fields.”
The Hon. Minister with responsibility for UNESCO matters, Dr. GeoffreyHanley described the UNESCO decision to contribute to the Federation’ssustainability goals with tangible expertise in education, gender andbiodiversity expertise as “Excellent”.
Two UNESCO-appointed experts will return to St. Kitts and Nevis early nextyear to finalize the implementation of the Federation’s National AccreditationFramework designed to ensure a rigorous system for reviewing and approvinghigher-level qualifications in the post-secondary sector. This will include adraft legislative framework with policies and procedures to be followed by thereformed Accreditation Board, covering accreditation policies, registration andaccreditation. The measures are designed to create education qualifications thatsingularly match the Federation’s labour needs.
Parallel to this recent funding decision, St. Kitts and Nevis is pursuing a rangeof other capacity-building projects with UNESCO input.
These include:
. The completion of the 1st phase of a National Intangible Cultural Heritage(ICH) campaign to identify and preserve local customs and traditions,cumulating in the first-ever national ICH framework to be presented tocabinet by the end of 2024.
. The pursuit of a water data-gathering exercise for technical and policyanalysis to influence decision-making related to water use in St. Kitts andNevis
. Preparation of a UNESCO-St. Kitts and Nevis framework to raisefunding to implement a scaling-up of investments in the St. Mary’sBiosphere Reserve aimed at developing the cultivation, preservation andmonetization of biodiversity-led sustainable agriculture processes in thereserve, including greenhouse cultivation.
. Continuing efforts in St. Kitts and Nevis via the National Sport Councilto make significant progress towards achieving full compliance with theAnti-doping in Sport standards (now at 73.8%).
H.E. David Doyle, the Federation’s Ambassador to UNESCO works closelywith the National Commission in articulating the Federation’s sustainabilityneeds at UNESCO HQ level. He was equally delighted with the recentUNESCO funding decision and commented, “The targeted and focused natureof high-level technical expertise negotiated with UNESCO is now bearing fruit,benefiting the government ministries, professions, and the wider stakeholdercommunities, including youth. A significant contributing factor is the solidalignment between the ministries, the SKN National Commission and theFederation’s permanent Delegation to UNESCO."
Disclaimer
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
