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
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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