The Government of the Virgin Islands has received grant funding to execute the RESEMBID BVI SMART © Initiative - SMART Schools Project in the amount of €1,300,448.47 EUR equivalent to $1,316,243.37 USD. Photo: VINO/File

RESEMBID is funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France – the development cooperation agency of the Government of France and supports sustainable human development efforts in 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs). Photo: Internet Source

This is according to the statement of the Cabinet Meeting chaired by His Excellency, Governor John, J. Rankin, CMG, at the Premier's Conference Room, Cutlass Tower on September 6, 2023.

According to the statement, All Members were present, with the exception of the Attorney General, who was overseas on official business, with Chief Parliamentary Counsel Ms Christine Bowen attending as the acting Attorney General.

Cabinet also decided that portions of the grant will be issued to the following partners to execute respective components of the project: Department of Disaster Management (DDM-Project Lead), Green VI, BVI Red Cross, and H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC), and supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports.

It was in 2016 that the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Seventh-day Adventist School and the Little Litehous Child Development Centre became the first two schools in the Territory to receive SMART School certification from the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) and the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Project timeline

Further, Cabinet disclosed that the project timeline for the RESEMBID BVI SMART © Initiative - SMART Schools Project is November 2022 to February 2024; and that a public launch of the project is being planned for September 2023.

RESEMBID is funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France – the development cooperation agency of the Government of France and supports sustainable human development efforts in 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).

Countries include Aruba, Anguilla, Bonaire, The [British] Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Barthélemy, Sint Maarten and Turks and Caicos and the overall objective of RESEMBID, is to support the sustainable human development efforts of participating countries and territories, with the thematic priorities being: Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity.