ST GEORGES, Grenada – European Union (EU) ambassador, Malgorzata Wasilewska, is on a visit to Grenada along with a team of EU staff from the European Union Delegation in Barbados.
From Monday 12 to Wednesday 14 December, the ambassador and her team will be meeting with government ministers as well as civil society organisations. They will also visit EU-sponsored projects. In an effort to deepen Grenada – EU relations, Grenada and the EU will discuss matters of common interest and will exchange on the modalities of the recently launched Caribbean – EU partnerships.
In this new set-up cooperation framework, Grenada and the EU will continue to work together through three key partnerships, respectively focusing on “Green Deal”, “Economic Resilience and Trade” as well as “Governance, Security and Human Development”.
Ambassador Wasilewska and prime minister Mitchell will moreover discuss the upcoming Summit between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean to take place in Brussels in 2023. They will also explore investment opportunities in the framework of the EU Global Gateway initiative.
In addition to meeting with prime minister Dickon Mitchell, minister for foreign affairs, trade and export development Joseph Andall, minister of economic development Lennox Andrews, minister of social and community development, housing and gender affairs, Philip Telesford and minister of education David Andrew, the European Union delegation will meet with women-led civil society organizations working on female empowerment across different sectors.
Moreover, the ambassador will visit the Telescope Primary School, among others to deliver outdoor learning equipment. The Telescope Primary School is one of the two schools in Grenada that has benefited from the EU Outdoor Learning Spaces Programme aimed at creating an outdoor learning environment where students can engage and interact in the open-air. This programme started in Barbados in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic aimed at creating alternative learning spaces for students beyond the traditional classroom. In the meantime, the Programme has been extended to Grenada and Carriacou, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.
Following the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” starting with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November and ending with the International Human Rights Day on 10 December, the team will also visit the Clothesline Project at the Courtyard of the Esplanade Mall in St George’s.
The Clothesline Project is a visual display of T-shirts made by survivors of violence or by those who have lost a loved one to violence. It aims at increasing awareness of the impact of violence and abuse and supports the delivery of quality services to survivors of family violence. The initiative also focuses on enhancing the capacity of national civil society organisations to design, implement and monitor programmes to prevent violence against women and girls and family violence as well as their public outreach and advocacy capacities.
The Project is set up by the ministry of social & community development, housing and gender affairs and funded through the Spotlight Initiative, a joint EU-UN initiative focused on eradicating gender-based violence. Launched in March 2020, the Grenada Spotlight Initiative Programme received an allocation of EUR 2.5 million and will run until the end of 2023. Prevention of family violence and violence against women and girls is a key pillar of the Programme. In visiting the Project, the EU ambassador reaffirms the EU’s support to survivors and victims of gender-based violence.
