As a recipient of the globally competitive GEF Assembly Challenge Award, local NGO Hand2Earth has been invited to present at the UNIDO Climate Adaptation and Industrial Resilience Forum 2026.
The forum will be held in Vienna, Austria, from Feb. 17 to 20.
An exhibition will showcase their vetiver systems project for farmland recovery in North Leeward.
Hand2Earth’s farmland restoration project was selected in 2023 as one of 22 winners from 600 applicants globally.
The award has enabled Hand2Earth to scale up its climate adaptation project in St. Vincent’s North Leeward area, which began in 2022 with a grant from the SVG. Conservation Fund.
Hand2Earth’s project in North Leeward has seen steady growth in community involvement, working with 85 farmers and 21 crafter beneficiaries and reaching over 200 households since 2022.
Its project work encompasses watershed management and trail development for agri-heritage tourism.
Based on the project’s achievements, Hand2Earth’s Project Manager, Vonnie Roudette, has been invited to speak at the high-level event.
Her talk will focus on the design, governance and sustainability of community-led solutions to climate adaptation and sustainable livelihood creation.
Hand2Earth has gained recognition locally and regionally for establishing prisoner rehabilitation programmes in vetiver craft, literacy education and sustainable farming since 2015.
When asked what Hand2Earth’s approach entails, Roudette describes a holistic, inclusive approach that nurtures participants’ knowledge base — the intangible foundation for sustainable project design and implementation.
She said that creative praxis and an inclusive approach to problem solving forms the basis of her projects, enabling them to be embraced and owned by the community, and that she is honoured to be invited to share the experience of Hand2Earth’s project participants in such a high-level setting.
Aligned with the UNIDO Climate Action Plan 2025–2029, the four-day event in Vienna will explore the convergence of climate adaptation and industrial resilience.
The forum will bring together governments, private-sector leaders, and technical experts to exchange experiences, forge partnerships, and identify practical pathways to systematically integrate climate adaptation and resilience into efforts to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development.
In addition, a community-based organisations workshop will provide an opportunity to build connections among the 22 selected CSOs to share knowledge and experience, and showcase their initiatives.
The workshop will also provide capacity-building training to further strengthen their capacities to scale up their initiatives.
UNIDO’s official invitation states that “participants are expected to share national perspectives on advancing adaptation, resilience, and industrial development, helping to define the direction and future collaboration of UNIDO’s support so that it aligns with the strategic priorities and opportunities of participating nations and regions”.