Over 2,000 Vincentians were employed from Feb. 28 to March 4 to clean up ash from last year’s volcanic eruption.
They were hired under a project funded by the Spanish Agency for International Development.
Following the April 2021 eruption of the La Soufriere, UNDP launched its Crisis Response and Recovery Program for St. Vincent.
The programme had three components, the first of which was the household and building damage assessment, was for quick data driven and evidence-based decision-making processes.
The second was cleaning of volcanic ash, clearing debris and supporting economic reactivation in the most affected areas while providing emergency employment.
The third was restoration and regeneration of forestry, watersheds and protected areas damaged by the eruption.
Component 2 was executed in two phases.
Phase one, funded and implemented by UNDP, ran from May to August 2021 while phase 2 was a partnership between UNDP and the Spanish Government, with Spain contributing some EC$1.1 million.
The execution of phase 2 began on Feb. 28, after much delay.
In the execution of component 2, UNDP procured a quantity of equipment, including and personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure workers had adequate protection to effect the safe removal of volcanic ash.
The hiring and payment of workers were done by BRAGSA, the government‘s executing agency, which was charged with the ash removal duty nationwide.
UNDP Resident Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Valarie Cliff and the Spanish Ambassador Fernando Nogales visited St. Vincent in November to see firsthand the devastation caused by the eruption and the progress on the ash removal.
They were taken on a tour of North Windward and expressed satisfaction with the work done by BRAGSA.
I still cannot understand why we clean the gutter and piled the debris on the side of the channel waiting for the next rain. When will we learn, oh this is job security.
So that is now happening? Almost a year later. SMH. Need I say anything about the inadequacies of this Government.
UNDP and the Spanish Government foot the bill and BRAGSA get the credit. lol
meh
I can’t believe how the powers that be in SVG have the place so behind the times and backward. The struggle people go thru for life and living without stealing and going to prison are fantastic. When push comes to shove, if you are not a lawyer, a Judge, Police or, Politician you are back to square one. All you see and hear is BRAGSA, NEMO, PSU, ULP, NDP, COP, MILLIONS, XXX, mix everything it amounts to stinking shit in a bucket. At times, it seems as if even the Grenadine islands belong to a foreign country; not part of SVG because ideally, true Vincies ‘should’ have no part in that, reserved for ‘the Rich and the Wealthy’, it looks like Somebody making a lot of money while honest Vincentians go hungry. Now, they’re saying the economy is improving after they fired hundreds of skilled workers and take away everything they had, now want to re-employ them as road cleaners? That is a bad track record.