标签： Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

On June 18, the Zero Hunger Trust Fund (ZHTF) hosted a critical stakeholder validation workshop in Kingstown, marking a key milestone in the finalization of its five-year strategic framework covering 2026 to 2030. This collaborative gathering brought together a diverse cross-section of actors, including senior representatives from national government ministries and departments, local non-governmental organizations, youth advocacy groups, civil society bodies, and other core implementing partners. The core objective of the session was to conduct a comprehensive review of the draft strategic plan and collect targeted feedback to refine the fund’s proposed direction for its next operational cycle.

Facilitated by experienced strategic consultant Kevin Hope, the workshop formed a central component of a broader inclusive planning process. This process was intentionally designed to guarantee that the finalized strategy fully aligns with St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ national development priorities, reflects existing institutional capacities and constraints, and centers the on-the-ground lived experiences of vulnerable communities across the islands.

The validation session built on preliminary stakeholder consultations held earlier in March, where community leaders and partner organizations shared on-the-ground insights into the rapidly shifting food and nutrition security landscape across St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Input from those initial consultations already helped shape the refocused draft framework, which prepares the fund for its second decade of operations, impact delivery, and systemic food system transformation.

During the day-long working session, participating stakeholders assessed whether the draft plan accurately upholds ZHTF’s statutory mandate, matches national priorities, and responds to the evolving challenges that shape food and nutrition insecurity in the country. Attendees examined every core component of the draft, including its proposed vision, mission statement, overarching strategic theme, dual core mandate, holistic full food systems approach, six defined strategic pillars, and priority implementation actions. They also flag areas requiring additional clarification, identified opportunities to strengthen alignment across stakeholder roles, and submitted concrete recommendations to streamline the plan’s final approval, publication, and rollout.

At the heart of all workshop discussions was a shared consensus that hunger and systemic food insecurity cannot be resolved through disconnected, standalone interventions. In response, the draft strategic plan adopts an integrated, cross-sectoral systems approach that connects diverse policy and programming areas, including social protection, public health nutrition, local food production, agriculture, fisheries, livelihood development, market access, climate resilience, data-driven governance, and community-led participation.

This model is rooted in the recognition that long-term sustainable solutions require coordinated action across multiple sectors, and stronger linkages between two critical priorities: immediate food and livelihood support for vulnerable households, and long-term strategic investments in building climate-resilient local food systems.

Addressing assembled participants, Safiya Horne-Bique, Director and CEO of ZHTF, emphasized that meaningful stakeholder engagement is non-negotiable to ensure the final strategic plan is practical, credible, and fully relevant to the national context. “The goal of this workshop is that we leave with a clearer, stronger and more validated strategic framework that can guide the work of the Zero Hunger Trust Fund from 2026 to 2030 and position the Fund for its second decade of impact,” Horne-Bique stated.

Encouraging open, constructive feedback from all attendees, she added: “Help us ensure that this document is not only a good strategic plan on paper, but also a useful national instrument for action.”

As ZHTF prepares to mark 10 years since its founding, Horne-Bique noted that the organization must not only celebrate its past achievements, but also adapt its operating model to respond to new and emerging challenges facing the country. “The environment in which the Fund now operates is very different from the one that existed in 2016. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines faces deeper climate and disaster risks, rising food prices, high food import dependency, shifting dietary patterns, youth unemployment, an ageing population, and continued vulnerability among households and communities. These realities require us to think beyond individual programmes and to look at the food system as a whole. That is the central purpose of this Strategic Plan.”

Horne-Bique further explained that the fund’s future direction must strike a critical balance between delivering immediate assistance to vulnerable populations and advancing long-term work to reduce systemic vulnerability, strengthen community livelihoods, and build overall food system resilience. “This workshop is not intended to be a ceremonial exercise. It is a working session. We are here to validate the strategic direction of the Fund for the period 2026 to 2030 and to ensure that the final plan is ambitious, but realistic; nationally relevant, but institutionally deliverable; visionary, but measurable.”

The draft strategic plan also clarifies and sharpens ZHTF’s unique value proposition as a national institution. The fund does not aim to replace existing government ministries or community-based organizations; instead, it positions itself as a catalytic, flexible, and partnership-driven intermediary that connects policy development, financing, on-the-ground programming, community leadership, and evidence-based learning. Through this niche role, ZHTF is positioned to mobilize much-needed resources, pilot innovative intervention models, directly support vulnerable groups, strengthen local food systems, and turn national food and nutrition security priorities into actionable, results-driven work.

For his part, consultant Kevin Hope highlighted the immense value of the input collected across the full consultation and validation process. He noted that workshop discussions reinforced both the critical importance of ZHTF’s mandate and the need to build broader public understanding of the fund’s role in advancing food and nutrition security across the islands. “It is now for us to work together on how we align our initiatives, how we use the activities ZHTF is doing to catalyse other investment, and how we deliver on the mandate. The mandate is ending hunger, food security and sustainable livelihoods,” Hope said.

He added that meaningful food security and food sovereignty must become embedded in national culture and daily community practice, rather than remaining abstract policy concepts reserved for government documents. “How do we target interventions and work together collaboratively to reduce poverty and vulnerability in communities using agriculture and fisheries as mediums? How do we strengthen and support livelihoods in these communities, and how do we ensure that food sovereignty and food security are not just buzzwords, but part of our lived culture? I am hopeful that at the end of this strategic planning exercise, there will be greater public awareness and stronger buy-in as to the ‘why’.”

Moving forward, all feedback and recommendations collected during the June 18 validation workshop will be integrated into the draft to produce the final version of the 2026–2030 Strategic Plan, which will then be submitted for official government approval. Once finalized, the plan will serve as the official roadmap guiding ZHTF’s work to end hunger, strengthen food and nutrition security, support sustainable livelihoods, deepen cross-sector partnerships, and contribute to the development of resilient, inclusive, and sustainable food systems across St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

On what should have been a day of celebration and new beginnings for graduating students at St. Vincent Girls’ High School, the entire community was plunged into mourning Thursday with news that one of their own, 17-year-old Form 5 Technical student Morica DaSilva, had lost her years-long battle with stage 4 cancer just hours after being honored for her extraordinary courage.

As family and fellow students gathered inside the school’s graduation ceremony, a plea for prayers and support for DaSilva, who had been hospitalized amid a worsening of her condition, began spreading rapidly across local social media platforms. Within hours of that post going viral, school administration officially confirmed the devastating passing of the young student.

In a heartfelt public tribute shared to the school’s social media channels, administrators remembered DaSilva as a bright, kind young woman whose warm presence and creative spirit left an indelible mark on the entire school community. Beyond her academic accomplishments, DaSilva was an active and valued member of the school’s Loyal Hearts Ad Alta Choir, where she shared her passion for singing and performance. When she was not rehearsing or studying, she could often be found crocheting, a hobby that let her creativity shine and brought joy to everyone who knew her.

Earlier the same day, before her passing was announced, DaSilva was posthumously awarded the Celina Cordice-Primus Award for Perseverance — a distinction created to recognize students who demonstrate extraordinary resolve in the face of overwhelming hardship. School officials called the award a fitting reflection of the grit, courage, and strength of character DaSilva displayed through every step of her cancer journey.

“ We extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Morica’s parents, family, friends, classmates, and all who knew and loved her,” the statement read. “During this time of profound grief, we keep them in our thoughts and prayers and hope they find comfort in the love and support of those around them. Though she is no longer with us, her memory will forever remain a cherished part of the Girls’ High School family.” School officials added that further details about DaSilva’s funeral arrangements will be released to the public once they are finalized by her family.

The grief over DaSilva’s passing extended beyond the school walls to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union, where DaSilva’s mother Marva has long served as a member. Union president Fiona Charles-Williams personally reached out to share condolences with the DaSilva family, the school’s headmistress and staff, and the entire 2026 graduating class in a voicenote addressed to all union members.

“… we are in sympathy and we offer condolences to Morica’s extended family and Marva’s extended family,” Charles-Williams said. “We are saddened by this loss, and we ask the Lord to give them comfort in their time of bereavement.”

At a packed graduation ceremony held at Kingstown’s Independence Park on Tuesday, a leading Vincentian academic challenged the 961 graduating class of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC) to carry three core values into their next chapter: unshakable resilience, intentional responsibility, and radical care for their communities as they step into their roles as “tomorrow’s leaders.”

Delivering the feature address for the 2024 commencement, themed “Tomorrow’s Leaders, Empowered Minds, Limitless Possibilities,” Dr. Andrea Veira — a biology researcher and science education lecturer at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus with advanced credentials in education and university teaching — wove Gen Z cultural language, approachable humor and rigorous academic insight into her address. She urged graduates to pair their hard-earned credentials with compassion, collective stewardship, and a proud, rooted sense of Caribbean identity.

“You are now standing at a defining turning point in your life,” Veira told the assembled graduates and their guests. “From this moment onward, your responsibilities grow heavier, and every decision you make carries real, tangible weight for your future and those around you.”

Opening by celebrating the historic scale of the graduating class, Veira highlighted that more than 900 students completed a diverse range of credentials, from certificates and technical vocational qualifications to CAPE passes, diplomas, and associate degrees. She framed the commencement as a tribute to the quiet perseverance that brought every graduate across the finish line, after years of navigating overlapping academic, financial, and personal pressures.

“We gather here today not just to hand out diplomas, but to celebrate perseverance,” she said. “You overcame unforgiving academic pressure, crippling financial challenges, private personal battles, grief, constant uncertainty, and all the small daily stresses that never make it into the official ceremony program, but live forever in your group chats. Yet here you are — you showed up, pushed through, and turned in the final assignment.”

Speaking to graduates in their own idiom, she added: “In the language of your generation, you ate and left no crumbs behind, graduates.” She then led the crowd in a playful call-and-response, prompting the audience to shout “no crumbs” every time she said “you ate.”

Veira reminded the cohort — made up mostly of Gen Z students, with a small number of millennials mixed in — that their coming-of-age was defined by overlapping, unprecedented crises and rapid societal shift that tested their strength long before graduation. She pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 eruption of the La Soufrière volcano, Hurricane Beryl, and the disruptive arrival of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning as shared, defining experiences that shaped this graduating class.

“On top of these public crises, many of you carry private struggles no one else ever saw,” she said. “But whether you realize it or not, as Vincentians and as Caribbean people, you are far stronger than you sometimes allow yourself to believe.”

She tied this innate strength to the region’s shared history and cultural identity, noting that generations of Vincentians survived colonialism, enslavement, indentureship, displacement, and persistent hardship, always finding ways to rise, rebuild, and create beauty from struggle. “Built into your DNA is a cultural identity shaped by survival, creativity, struggle, faith, humor, and community,” she explained. “You are children of Vincentian soil, and that means resilience is not just a trait you admire — it is something you inherit.” To tie this to the commencement theme, she led a second call-and-response, with graduates shouting “limitless possibilities” in reply to “empowered minds.”

Veira was careful to draw a clear line between modern empowerment and the often-criticized culture of entitlement that is stereotypically linked to younger generations. “True empowerment is not something you are owed — it means access, exposure, and above all, responsibility,” she stressed. She noted that today’s SVGCC graduates have access to opportunities earlier generations of Vincentians could barely dream of, from post-primary education and online learning to global professional networks, digital creator economy platforms, entrepreneurship tools, and cutting-edge emerging technologies including AI, automation, drone technology, robotics, and data systems. “These are tools for empowered minds, and when used with discipline and clear purpose, they open exactly the limitless possibilities this graduation’s theme promises,” she said.

Turning to the role of SVGCC, Veira praised the institution for building a strong foundational education across every discipline, from traditional CAPE subjects and nursing to teaching, technical trades, business, agriculture, and hospitality. She reminded graduates that no matter what field they studied, their skills fill critical needs in national society. “Every field matters, every skill has value, and when knowledge is joined with discipline, humility, and care, it becomes real empowerment,” she said. She encouraged graduates to pursue a model of leadership rooted in substance rather than performance: “That is the kind of empowerment I encourage you to embrace — not loud arrogance, but quiet confidence; not selfish ambition, but purposeful leadership.”

Throughout her address, Veira repeatedly circled back to care as the defining mark of meaningful, lasting success. “A caring teacher, a caring nurse, a caring farmer, a caring doctor, a caring technician, a caring entrepreneur — no matter their profession — makes the difference between simply doing a job and touching a life, between providing a service and leaving a legacy,” she said.

She explained how care transforms ordinary spaces and roles: “Care turns a classroom into a place of hope, a hospital room into a place of healing, land into a source of nourishment, and a career into a calling. When you lead with care, people remember not only what you did, but how you made them feel. And graduates, that hits different.” She led one final call-and-response, with the crowd shouting “hits different” in reply to “care.”

Closing her address, Veira urged graduates to never forget the people and communities that supported them through their education, arguing that giving back is not a goal to postpone until after they achieve personal success. Instead, she said, it is a mindset to embrace from the first step of their post-graduation journey. “It begins in the attitude with which you approach the journey,” she said. “It begins with passion and love for what you do, because when you care deeply about your work, you do not merely perform tasks; you search for meaning, improvement, and impact.” She closed by encouraging graduates to seek mentorship, listen to community needs, think creatively, and work together to solve the persistent challenges facing St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the wider Caribbean region.