Shell TT, Digicel give $1m in grants

AT the end of 2023, the Digicel Foundation and Shell TT distributed $1 million community grants to support ten new Extraordinary Projects Impacting Communities (EPIC). The community projects are already well underway and set to be completed by March.

“The EPIC programme speaks to supporting communities in a way that favours a bottom-up approach. You tell us what’s important to you and we help you realise your vision, always with the community and its people at the centre.

“Our role is to empower our partners to have greater reach and impact in their communities,” said Desha Clifford, chairman of the Digicel Foundation, on the purpose of the EPIC programme.

The foundation launched EPIC in 2016 as a small grants initiative, and it has continuously grown in scale and impact since then. Through partnership with Shell TT, the 2023-2024 EPIC programme offered ten community organisations an enhanced $100,000 grant to implement sustainable community initiatives in the areas of renewable energy, agriculture, and the environment.

“Together, we could do more, reach more, go further, be bolder. Shell and the Foundation could leverage our collective strengths to support organisations across both Trinidad and Tobago, in rural and urban communities, to benefit persons of all ages, at all stages, from all walks of life. Together, we are building local capacity, fostering innovation, and contributing to sustainable community development,” said Clint Khan, General Manager (Safety and Environment) at Shell TT.

The organisations implementing 2023-2024 EPIC projects are Barataria Community Council; Brazil Village Farmers’ Group; Canaan Bon Accord Sports Club; Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI); Deltones Institute of Steel Drums and Music; Naparima College; Original Trinitario Cocoa Education Foundation; One Seed for Change; and TT Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers in collaboration with Soroptimist International Esperance.

Since 2016, EPIC has impacted 140 communities through a total investment $6.2 million.