UNESCO Broadens Its Footprint Across the Federation

Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis, April 24, 2025 (UNESCO National Commission) – This past Holy Week buzzed with UNESCO activity as the two key St. Kitts and Nevis representatives leading this specialized UN agency’s work held several meetings and briefings with Ministers of Government and relevant stakeholders.

Marking the annual visit of the Federation’s Ambassador to UNESCO based in Paris, H.E. David Doyle, the meetings were organized by H.E. Nerys Dockery, Secretary-General of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Commission for UNESCO, who oversees all UNESCO-related activities on the ground in the twin-island state.

At a well-attended National Commission session held on April 17, 2025, robust discussion arose on the growing levels of technical UNESCO expertise being deployed in the Federation in multiple areas associated with policy development and institutional capacity building covering Education, Cultural Heritage and Biodiversity.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister responsible for UNESCO Affairs, the Hon. Dr. Geoffrey Hanley, attended the latter part of the session. Among the attendees was Dr. Kertney Thompson, CEO of the TVET Board, Ms. Trisha Francis, Executive Director of the Accreditation Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Telca Wallace, Chief Coordinator of the UNESCO-accredited St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve, Mr. Pierre Liburd, Director of Culture at the Ministry of Culture, Mr. Percival Hanley, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Brimstone Hill Fortress, Ms. Robertine Webb, Director of Creative Economy at the Ministry of Culture et al, and representing the Nevis Island Administration, Ms. Janette Maloney.

Special envoy to UNESCO, Ambassador Doyle, noted that eight UNESCO projects are being implemented concurrently across the Federation, supported by “professional guidance, and, critically, concomitant funding, in areas ranging from scaling-up the professionalization of the national teaching force with an African University to strengthening the biodiversity credentials at the St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve, and from restructuring of the National Accreditation System for higher qualifications to safeguarding measures to protect St. Kitts and Nevis’ National Intangible Culture. Compelling progress was being made in all these areas of UNESCO intervention.”

Secretary-General, H.E. Nerys Dockery, elaborated on a new area of potential UNESCO intervention envisaging the integration of African Ancestral History in the national educational curriculum and a possible “City-Twinning” initiative connecting the seaports along the transatlantic slave-route between the African states of Ghana, Europe and St. Kitts and Nevis, as part of the UNESCO Network of Places of History and Memory linked to Enslavement and the Slave Trade. She stated: “The UNESCO National Commission is privileged to be involved in these important initiatives geared towards promoting and educating our citizens about our national and ancestral history as part of UNESCO’s efforts to ‘break the silence’ and respond better to the new challenges associated with the fight against racism and discrimination at the international level. Our Routes of Enslaved Peoples Committee will be conducting several events and activities over the next eighteen months to begin a national conversation about the importance and value of developing a distinctly Kittivisian cultural identity, consciousness and value system.”

Several national flagship UNESCO projects were evoked during the session. Amongst those was the conclusion to a three-year biodiversity-strengthening project, financed by the Government of Italy, via the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme, focused on transforming St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve (SMBR) into a more sustainable, biodiversity-friendly tropical environment.

Backed by a UNESCO-accredited biodiversity/ecological expert, biosphere reserve coordinator, Mrs. Telca Wallace, noted that UNESCO assistance was focused on improving agricultural practices, tools, methods of cultivation, preservation, and linking them to the monetisation of biodiversity-led sustainable agriculture processes. “The aim is to embrace better use of tropical forests, enhance rainwater capture and the cultivation of indigenous fruits, combat soil erosion, explore introducing seed varieties more tolerant to heat and drought”.

Innovative and forward-looking UNESCO initiatives are being considered to foster the establishment of greenhouses to foster agricultural resilience and the creation of a community Seed Bank in the St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve.

Another high-profile project noted was the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Education and the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) to register twenty teachers across the Federation for the OUT Bachelor’s Degree Education programmes, by end April, 2025.

Minister Hanley underscored that this UNESCO-endorsed collaboration with OUT was developed in the context of the country’s quest to professionalize the teaching force by increasing the number of teachers with a bachelor’s degree qualification in critical areas in education including but not limited to education management, research, special needs and evaluation. The MOU between the Open University of Tanzania, UNESCO and the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is the first of its kind to be explored in the Caribbean region and will stand out as a best practice and model for other countries to follow. The project also has the endorsement of the Government of Tanzania.

Minister Hanley hailed the innovative nature of these continuing UNESCO value-adding projects, noting that they represent “outstanding success stories that we can be proud of”.

Another area of cooperation that will be explored with UNESCO will involve funded initiatives connected to the build out of our cultural and creative industries and economies. Ambassador Doyle and H.E. Dockery both emphasized the need for the Federation to utilize UNESCO capacity-building and training expertise to develop more structured and professionalized cultural and creative industries, attracting private investments based on international standards and strategic business models.

Various reports, updating the National Commission on the range of additional existing UNESCO projects currently being implemented across the Federation were presented by the project leads, such as:

· Project to restructure the National qualifications Accreditation System.

· progress towards achieving full compliance with the Anti-doping in Sport standards.

· Developing a National Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy framework with a view to incorporating several items on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

· Identifying eligible historical, cultural sites in the Federation for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Ambassador Doyle’s visit also included a briefing meeting with Senator the Hon. Dr. Joyelle Clarke, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment, Climate Action and Constituency Empowerment. The Minister, and her team, accompanied by H.E. Dockery and Mrs. Wallace, endorsed the plans being elaborated with Man and Biosphere experts at UNESCO Paris Headquarters to transform the St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve into a Centre of Excellence for the elimination of single-use plastics. This will be aligned with the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis’ ongoing phased single-use plastic ban. A multi-stakeholder public consultation regarding the best approaches to implementing the single-use plastic ban will take place in July 2025.

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