Caribbean News
Caring Entrepreneurship: A Model For Sustainable Community-based Tourism in St. Lucia
Submitted by Kirk Elliott
August 11, 2023 – A few years ago award winning St Lucia photographer ( https://StLuciaPhotoTours.com/Hello ) Kirk Elliott got invited to a rural community deep in the heart of Saint Lucia to help it develop a sense of excellence in its tourism offering after his St Lucia Photo Tour won its first TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. Elliott was blown away by the tremendous potential of their tourism product. However, he couldn’t help lamenting that residents simply didn’t see its potential and were thus content to maintain the status quo.
In grappling with the conundrum of how best to effect positive and lasting change Elliott came to the realization that rural communities are largely ill-equipped to successfully manage and operate tourism enterprises. This led him to an idea he dubbed “Caring Entrepreneurship”.
Defining Caring Entrepreneurship
In the context of tourism Elliott defines the Caring Entrepreneur as someone who understands how to successfully create and manage a tourism business. The entrepreneur brings this expertise to the mutual benefit of both the community and his/her enterprise. The caring entrepreneur nurtures and empowers the community so that it can eventually assume control of the business and grow it from strength to strength.
To be successful the business arrangement must be based on mutual respect and trust. The entrepreneur must truly care about the well-being of the community rather than exclusively about his/her bottom line. In turn the community must recognize and appreciate the value the caring entrepreneurship brings to the table. This synergy is the foundation for an outcome in which their combined efforts yield results that far exceed the sum of the community’s and the entrepreneur’s individual efforts.
“I will be the first to tell you that this notion of caring entrepreneurship is a counter-intuitive approach to deriving meaningful community benefits from tourism. However, from inception it was clear to me that this novel approach was an effective way of nurturing long-term success in community-based sustainable tourism development” Elliott explained when asked why would anyone make such a sacrifice to help a community when they could simply open shop and proceed to extract the maximum profit.
Testing The Theory of Caring Entrepreneurship
After multiple false starts Elliott finally got the opportunity to test his theory in a different community after @CoxTravelAdventures of Danbury Connecticut, USA, outfitted an entire kindergarten class with an assortment of school supplies at the start of the 2022 school year.
The school supplies were donated to the Dugard Combined School in Choiseul, Saint Lucia. While Dugard is a rural community deep in the heart of Saint Lucia, whatsoever the school may have missed due to its remoteness it more than made up for with heart and soul. From the principal and teachers, to the students, to the school’s caretaker staff, they all operate like one big family and their love and caring comes shining through.
“From my initial telephone conversation with Mr. Elliott I felt like my prayers had been answered, as just the week before I had prayed that our small rural community school with limited resources would somehow gain greater visibility. Then seemingly out of the blue there was Mr. Elliott lending a helping hand and speaking of wanting to develop a long-term relationship with our school”, stated school principal Mrs. Tessa Charles-Calderon when asked about Elliott’s support for the school.
Connecting Young Students With Tourism
Since the post pandemic return of tourism Elliott has been taking patrons of his Private St Lucia Experiences to the Dugard Combined School where they get to engage with students first hand. Elliott invites his clients to bring over school supplies based on the needs of the school, and the general consensus of visitors is that their engagement with the students has been a highlight of their Saint Lucia vacation.
For the students – they have come to appreciate tourists as people just like themselves rather than as some abstract term they hear about on the radio or see on television newscasts.
A Burning Visitor Desire For Authentic Community-based Experiences
Today, more and more visitors are seeking authentic experiences that immerse them in the culture, history, cuisine and lived experiences of locals. These visitors wish to know that their money is creating a positive impact in the lives of the indigenous peoples of the destinations they visit. Towards this end such visitors are actively seeking out ways of connecting to and engaging with local communities and buying directly from them.
What’s Next For The Dugard Combined School
Students at the school have said they would love to have a proper playground at their school and the principal and teachers consider this an excellent idea that will teach the children about caring and sharing, among other things.
Elliott has engaged many of his professional friends to lend a helping hand to the Dugard Combined School’s
Playground Project. From an engineer who has assessed the required earth works, to an architect who has produced architectural renderings for the playground, just about everyone Elliott has reached out to has lent their support and even gone way beyond his wildest expectations.
“The overwhelming support of everyone I have reached out to has emboldened me to invite both the teachers and the students to dream big scary dreams and then together let’s go out and make those dreams come through!” Elliott passionately commented when asked his thoughts on this playground project and beyond.
During the 2022/23 school year Elliott worked with the school to complete Phase 1 of the Playground Project in the form of the painting of educational games in the schoolyard. Not to let an opportunity go to waste, the school incorporated the games painting project into students’ School Based Assessment (SBA). This SBA is a practical activity students must successfully complete in order to graduate and gain admission to a secondary school.
From the video below of the official launch of the games it is clear that the students’ efforts were well received.
Video Link: https://StLuciaPhotoTours.com/DugardPlayground
Saint Lucia Diaspora Support
Saint Lucians, both in the diaspora and at home who participated in Elliott’s recent I Am Lucian Webinar Series have been super supportive too. Some have volunteered to fly down to Saint Lucia to assist with the playground construction, while others are sourcing electronic smart-boards for multiple schools on the island, and entry level STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) training for students.
“I am delighted by the outpouring of support and excited about the possibilities that lie ahead for community youth development and empowerment. It is refreshingly heartwarming to see what is possible through the power of collective caring and sharing” Elliott commented regarding the Saint Lucian diaspora support.
Creating an International Benchmark of Sustainable Community-based Tourism in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
When Elliott embarked on this journey of seeking to empower a rural community little could he have imagined where the journey would lead. In the process of understanding and overcoming the obstacles he encountered he has come to realize that those we consider rural poor enjoy a richness of life and living that remains largely unrecognized.
However they are at risk of losing much that they hold dear due to the rapid environmental degradation of the world at large. For this reason, empowering them through an appreciation of the benefits of sustainable community-based tourism is a powerful way of preserving much that is rapidly being eroded away.
“I am super excited about this idea of Caring Entrepreneurship and my goal is to see this community engagement starting with the Dugard Combined School project manifest into an International Benchmark of Sustainable Community-based Tourism in Small Island Developing States” said Elliott when asked what was the overall outcome he envisions.
…and at the rate at which this intervention is progressing he just might be on to something.
About Kirk Elliott
Kirk Elliott is an award-winning St Lucia Photographer, Sustainable Tourism Advocate and National Geographic Certified Educator.
Kirk is the Founder of the St Lucia Photo Tour where he introduces visitors to authentic Saint Lucia culture, history and cuisine through the medium of photography… Kirk@KirkElliott.com | https://StLuciaPhotoTours.com/Hello
How Venezuelan farmers are learning to grow and live with a devastating plant disease
In the fields of Venezuela, where the banana has been for generations a symbol of sustenance and tradition, a shadow fell across the land. In 2023, Venezuela’s National Institute of Integral Agricultural Health (INSAI) declared a phytosanitary emergency: the fungus Fusarium Tropical Race 4 (TR4) (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4; syn. Fusarium odoratissimum) had arrived in producing areas in the states of Aragua, Carabobo and Cojedes.
This fungus, considered a devastating disease of banana and plantain (Musaceae) trees, can remain in the soil for more than two decades,
threatening production and the lives of those who depend on it.
In the state of Aragua in the north of the country, the Renacer community had been growing bananas and plantains on 20 hectares since 2018. Then Fusarium arrived.
“When the disease hit, the entire plantation began to deteriorate. We refused to ‘die’ with the trees because that was our livelihood. The visits of INSAI confirmed that we had to chop down the banana trees. I cried a lot because I had worked with my banana trees for years,” recalls woman farmer, Lesbia Margarita García, with a broken voice.
In response, INSAI implemented measures to eliminate the affected plantations and improve the soil health by changing to other crops that allow agricultural production to recover. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) offered assistance by providing corn seeds, tools, biosecurity inputs and training, with teams of experts helping farmers to start again.
“Planting corn, thanks to the INSAI-FAO programme, gave us a harvest that benefited everyone. We have been improving the soil,” says Lesbia Margarita with a smile. “Now we rotate crops, observe soil health and have learned how to use natural fertilizers. Expert assistance has been key.”
The pilot project works directly with affected producers in high-risk areas, promoting alternative crops such as cereals and vegetables, delivering inputs and tools to mitigate damage and applying biosecurity measures for safe and effective containment.
“Beyond the corn received, we have already planted cassava, chili peppers, beans and pumpkin. We hope that by the end of the year [2025] we will be diversified and that each season we will have something to sell. These lands do not give up,” says Lesbia Margarita with conviction.
The Renacer community is beginning to see fruits. Their products are reaching local markets, generating income and rebuilding their livelihoods.
Key actions to manage Fusarium TR4 are ongoing, including regular monitoring, continuous training, inter‑institutional coordination,
updates to the national plan, information campaigns and producer impact assessments. INSAI is sustaining regulatory, surveillance measures and training —with FAO support—as part of a comprehensive long‑term strategy.
At the global level, FAO supports awareness raising, capacity building and international collaboration in the fight against Fusarium TR4 by facilitating the World Banana Forum and its Global Network on TR4.
“The objective is for countries to strengthen their operational and technical capacity, articulating actions between the public sector, the private sector and family farmers,” says Raixa Llauger, FAO Agriculture Officer in Mesoamerica. “FAO and local partners have promoted this approach in Venezuela.”
As an essential part of the activities, a comprehensive training programme was developed with activities that taught farmers how to identify the disease contain it and protect crops. In addition, FAO has distributed laboratory equipment, biosecurity tools and a multispectral drone to INSAI. Drones are an efficient and cost‑effective tool for phytosanitary surveillance, offering rapid, high‑resolution monitoring and early detection of plant pests and diseases.
Overall, the project strengthened biosecurity measures against the Fusarium fungus through the adoption of the National Action Plan and the establishment of partnerships with national and international institutions. In addition, the pilot initiative supporting smallholder farmers in key production areas and a nationwide awareness campaign with broad outreach improved surveillance, diagnosis and phytosanitary response capacities across the country.
MIAMI, Florida — Emotional testimony from Martine Moïse, the widow of assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, has given
jurors in a U.S. federal courtroom a chilling account of the night gunmen stormed the presidential residence and killed the country’s leader.
Martine Moïse took the stand this week in Miami as part of the ongoing trial of several men accused of helping plan and finance the July 7, 2021 assassination, a crime that plunged Haiti into political crisis and remains only partially solved.
She told the court that armed men forced their way into the president’s private home in the hills above Port-au-Prince during the early morning hours, firing multiple shots at her husband while she lay beside him. She testified that she was also wounded in the attack and survived by pretending to be dead until the gunmen left the room.
According to prosecutors, the plot involved a group of foreign mercenaries, including former Colombian soldiers, along with Haitian and
Haitian-American suspects. Investigators say some of the men believed the mission was to detain the president, but the operation turned into an assassination.
The Miami trial is focusing on the alleged role of South Florida businessmen and others accused of organizing or financing the plan, part of a wider international investigation that has stretched across several countries.
More than four years after the killing, the question of who ultimately ordered the assassination remains unanswered, with suspects still in custody in both Haiti and the United States as the case continues to unfold.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
CARIBBEAN — Jamaica has become the 13th CARICOM member state to accede to the African Export-Import Bank Establishment Agreement, further strengthening economic ties between Africa and the Caribbean.
The development was confirmed during the 50th CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting, where an Afreximbank delegation led by George Elombi and Kanayo Awani met with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness to advance cooperation.
Prime Minister Holness thanked the bank for its support following Jamaica’s recent hurricane, noting that Afreximbank financing helped restore critical infrastructure including water, electricity, sewage systems and roads, while also assisting reconstruction efforts aimed
at building stronger resilience to future disasters.
The meeting also focused on broader development opportunities tied to Jamaica’s membership in the agreement. Discussions included rebuilding and modernising infrastructure such as railways, hospitals and other public facilities, while strengthening regional transportation and trade networks to improve the movement of people and goods across the Caribbean.
Afreximbank has been expanding its presence in the Caribbean as part of its strategy to connect Africa with the region often referred to as “Global Africa.” The bank has already committed billions of dollars in financing and trade support to Caribbean economies in recent years, including funding for infrastructure, trade facilitation and private sector investment.
By joining the agreement, Jamaica gains expanded access to Afreximbank’s financial instruments, technical support and trade networks designed to promote commerce between Africa and CARICOM states.
Regional leaders say the growing partnership could unlock new opportunities in areas such as trade, logistics, tourism, manufacturing and cultural exchange, strengthening economic cooperation between the two regions with deep historical and diaspora ties.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
-
News1 week agoCARICOM – A Regional Club With Benefits; Turks & Caicos Wants In
-
News21 hours agoPassword to Paradise Radio Remotes at Beaches Turks & Caicos continue to highlight the TCI as the preferred Caribbean destination
-
Health1 week agoTurks and Caicos Islands Hospital Celebrates Patient Safety Awareness Month: “Team Up for Patient Safety”
-
News2 days agoBeaches Turks & Caicos adds four new PADI Dive Instructors to the cadre of professionals in the watersports department
-
Health1 week agoTurks and Caicos Islands Medical Association (TCIMA) Elects New Executive
-
News2 days agoBeaches Turks & Caicos shares fine dining experiences to high school students in Providenciales
-
News5 days agoFlow TCI supports ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ at Inter-Primary Track and Field Championships
-
News5 days agoISU Community Caravan Delivers Essential Services to Granny Hill North