BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a US$7.6 million loan to boost youth participation and engagement in socially-inclusive, gender-responsive, and environmentally-resilient business enterprises in St. Lucia.
The initiative, aimed at 15 to 35-year-olds, will provide a ‘one-stop solution’ for grant and loan financing as well as training and mentorship under the Youth Economy Project (YEP) of Saint Lucia’s Youth Economy Agency (YEA), the agency established to address high levels of unemployment among Saint Lucia’s increasing youth population.
The CDB said project activities include training 600 youth in business development, planning, marketing, and business management. Additionally, 120 young persons will benefit from business mentoring and coaching.
It said financing (loans and grants) would be made available to over 3,000 male and female young people between the ages of 18 and 25 to support enterprise activities in agriculture, agro-processing, manufacturing, retail, and the services industries as well as the blue, green, and orange economies.
The project is being implemented by YEA, which will also benefit from technical assistance to strengthen its institutional capacity, particularly in implementing social, gender, and environmental safeguards.
Other activities include monitoring and evaluation, grievance redress mechanism, building resilience to climate-related and other shocks, and strengthening inter-agency partnerships and networking of the YEA through the services of a Social and Gender Specialist, Environmental Officer, and Financing Specialist.
CDB’s Vice President of Operations, Isaac Solomon, said the project aligns with the CDB’s Youth Policy and Operational Strategy 2020 and the bank’s strategic objective of supporting inclusive and sustainable growth and development through building production resilience.
He said the bank and St. Lucia National Youth Policy and Action Plan recognize the country’s youth population as the primary agents of change.
“Youth are the societal building blocks, possessing unmatched levels of innovation, creativity, and technological aptitude, and intentional strategies are still necessary to address the economic participation of the growing youthful population to build on the progress already made.
“The provision of concessionary financing to youth-led MSMEs supports entrepreneurship, the creation of employment, expanding the productive sector and positioning MSMEs to contribute to long-term growth, will reduce youth disengagement and disincentivize involvement in criminal activity, promote gender equality and increase social resilience,” he added.
The project, financed with resources from the CDB and the YEA, will be implemented over 18 months in October 2023.
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