KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

Paramin, a vil­lage in north Trinidad, is known for its scenic views, cul­tur­al tra­di­tions, and farm­ing.

The an­nu­al Parang hub is home to the Ve­tiv­er Ed­u­ca­tion and Em­pow­er­ment Pro­gramme (VEEP), in­tro­duced by the IAMove­ment in 2016. Out of that pro­gramme, the House of Ve­tiv­er was born.

IAMove­ment di­rec­tor Nicole Bovell-Padding­ton told its sto­ry at the British High Com­mis­sion’s re­cent In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day ob­ser­va­tions at the High Com­mis­sion­er’s Res­i­dence in Mar­aval.

“This pro­gramme, via a com­bi­na­tion of some the­o­ry and most­ly prac­ti­cal ap­pli­ca­tion, teach­es par­tic­i­pants how to plant and prop­a­gate the ve­tiv­er grass on slopes us­ing the Ve­tiv­er Sys­tem, a proven green in­fra­struc­ture tool and na­ture-based so­lu­tion for slope sta­bil­i­sa­tion to pre­vent land slip­page, ero­sion, flood­ing, im­prove wa­ter re­ten­tion in the soil and the list of ben­e­fits goes on,” she ex­plained.

Apart from pro­duc­ing an es­sen­tial oil be­ing used in holis­tic prac­tice, ve­tiv­er grass, which grows up to ten feet deep, acts as an un­der­ground re­tain­ing wall, when plant­ed in a hedgerow for­ma­tion.

“We like to call it the man­grove of the land and since hav­ing joined the IAMove­ment fam­i­ly in 2019 I have wit­nessed the ef­fec­tive­ness of this plant many times,” Bovell-Padding­ton added.

“It is ex­treme­ly re­ward­ing to vis­it the homes and lands of par­tic­i­pants in the pro­gramme and oth­ers in need where it is clear that the ve­tiv­er hedgerows have saved their homes, prop­er­ties and liveli­hoods from be­ing lost to land­slides, poor wa­ter man­age­ment.”

The pro­gramme al­so in­cludes a hand­i­craft el­e­ment, which teach­es com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers how to use the leaves of the ve­tiv­er plant to make beau­ti­ful hand­made crafts—like floor mats, bags, bas­kets and jew­ellery.

“Over the years the VEEP mod­el has been repli­cat­ed across sev­er­al com­mu­ni­ties in Trinidad and To­ba­go as well as sev­er­al is­lands in the Caribbean, in­clud­ing Grena­da, Do­mini­ca, St Lu­cia and An­tigua, with great suc­cess, par­tic­u­lar­ly, as it re­gards its ef­fec­tive goal of em­pow­er­ing women by pro­vid­ing a sus­tain­able liveli­hood op­tion,” Bovell-Padding­ton said.

“It has been proven time and again that when women are em­pow­ered in these ways, the trick­le-down ef­fect on the com­mu­ni­ties where they re­side is sig­nif­i­cant im­prove­ment and up­lift­ment.”

British High Com­mis­sion­er Jon Mark Dean, who pre­sent­ed his cre­den­tials to Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo on Jan­u­ary 16, said it was a priv­i­lege to wit­ness the in­cred­i­ble im­pact that Civ­il So­ci­ety Or­gan­i­sa­tions have in pro­gress­ing ac­tion on gen­der equal­i­ty.

“One spe­cif­ic ex­am­ple of this is the work done by IAMove­ment and House of Ve­tiv­er, two ex­cel­lent or­gan­i­sa­tions who we have the plea­sure of part­ner­ing with to­day,” he said.

“Through their pro­gramme called the Warao Women Up­lift­ment Pro­gramme, in­dige­nous and mi­grant women have been up­lift­ed and em­pow­ered, pro­vid­ing them with the tools to build sus­tain­able busi­ness­es, pre­serve their cul­tur­al her­itage, and, most im­por­tant­ly, se­cure eco­nom­ic in­de­pen­dence.

“Their hand­craft­ed prod­ucts, show­cased here to­day, are more than just beau­ti­ful pieces. They are sym­bols of re­silience, en­tre­pre­neur­ship, and hope.”

The High Com­mis­sion­er said true em­pow­er­ment comes when women are giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty to thrive on their own terms.

He added, “It is our col­lec­tive re­spon­si­bil­i­ty as gov­ern­ments, busi­ness­es, and civ­il so­ci­ety to en­sure that these op­por­tu­ni­ties are not just avail­able but ac­ces­si­ble.”

Am­bas­sador Dean said the British High Com­mis­sion re­mains com­mit­ted to part­ner­ing with civ­il so­ci­ety or­gan­i­sa­tions to ac­cel­er­ate ac­tion in achiev­ing gen­der equal­i­ty.