US aid agency unveils Trinidad office

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO is set to join Guyana and Suriname as the third and latest south Caribbean state with a regional satellite office for the US Agency for International Development Eastern (USAID) Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC).

The office will be opened in November at Briar Place on Sweet Briar Road, St Clair. USAID/ESC's headquarters are in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The TT satellite office will be headed by the current USAID/ESC regional office programme management specialist (rule of law) Sharon Ramsaran.

USAID regional representative Clinton White and chargé d'affaires at the US Embassy Shante Moore, along with a number of TT government senators, MPs, mayors, and state and US dignitaries, gathered for a reception at Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, on Wednesday to commemorate the opening.

White, who is scheduled to depart to take up a new post in Washington, DC, said he is delighted to be part of the process of bringing the organisation's team closer to beneficiaries.

The new office, he said, "will enhance stakeholder coordination, collaboration and communication across (its) portfolio for improved programming."

"We believe this action is necessary in achieving our goal to promote a safe, prosperous, and resilient Caribbean region that supports its vulnerable populations, withstands external shocks, and promotes accountable institutions, economic development, and private sector-led growth," he said.

The organisation has along track record of providing aid in the region to tackle issues including climate change, HIV/AIDS, economic growth and other areas.

White boasted of the establishment of two customised children's courts in Trinidad, in partnership with the judiciary and the UN Development Programme.

The organisation has also partnered with various government ministries on other initiatives, including retrofitting two ambulances to assist with community vaccinations; vaccine drives reportedly reaching over 270,000 people; the training of 350 people to improve local food production via its Farmer to Farmer project; establishing sheep and poultry-egg production units; supporting the transition of ex-prisoners into society; helping to set up a community garden in partnership with the Network of Rural Women Producers in Tobago; training Unemployment Relief Programme workers in new methods of irrigation; and implementing new field methods for cocoa farmers.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne acknowledged and saluted USAID/ESC for its US$4.5 million contribution to promoting covid19 protocol and its public education campaigns, addressing vaccine hesitancy, which he said was of particular concern in TT.

"I must express that I was deeply moved by the launch of Phase 2 of the 'Act Now' campaign," he said. The campaign, a collaboration between USAID and the Ministry of Education, was designed to emphasise the importance of covid19 to school-aged children.

"I am extremely appreciative that the campaign incorporates advice on healthy eating, physical exercise and socialisation, with conversations on vaccination."

Browne said moving forward, it is also expected that government initiatives concerning public/private sector partnership projects, coastal erosion mitigation, climate change initiatives, renewable energy projects, including solar and electric technologies, "will be the focus of institutional strengthening, technical assistance and development expertise through (the TT government's) work with the US government."

USAID was instituted by US President John F Kennedy in 1961 and is designed to unite development into a single agency responsible for administering aid to foreign countries to promote social and economic development.