After 13 months with 15 in-country missions, 400+ consultancy days and more than 40 deliverables, this important consultancy project on "Institutional and Organisational Strengthening of WASCO Saint Lucia and Regional Water Utilities" comes to an end.The numerous documents produced can be accessed through the links below, so that they can be of use for other water utilities:Organisational Development1. WASCO Strategy for developing a QMS1. Draft Action Plan QMS2. M&E Report - Final...

With the nearing end of the consultancy project “Institutional and Organisational Strengthening of WASCO and Regional Water Utilities”, an important chapter in the German development cooperation in the Eastern Caribbean comes to a closure.While this current project started in November 2019, the collaboration between WASCO and the CATS programme reaches back several years: a first one-year consultancy project was initiated as part of the first phase of the CATS programme in late 2014,...

Diving in a Coral Forest - click here to watch the video on YouTube!Since early 2019, the CATS Programme collaborates with CLEAR Caribbean on a coral restauration project in Soufriere, Saint Lucia. The project aims at propagating Staghorn Coral and Elkhorn Coral along the coastline in the Soufriere area, reaching from Anse Chastanet Bay to the Pitons.The corals are grown on trees made of PVC pipes and glass fibre bars and are anchored to the ground with ropes. So far, a total of ten trees have b...

Staff from a total of 8 Caribbean water utilities participated in the Regional Training on Measures and Activities for NRW-Reduction in Saint Lucia taking place from September 24th to 27th, 2019. The training, which is part of the consultancy project “Institutional and Organisational Strengthening of WASCO Saint Lucia and Regional Water Utilities”, was conducted by two hydraulic modelling and network management experts of Hamburg Wasser and Consulaqua, Germany.The training was the se...

Resilience of the agricultural sector against the effects of climate change does not only refer to adapted cropping practices or improved land use. It also includes the strengthening and capacity building of small businesses along the value chain which use agricultural raw materials and add value for the end consumer. Only a holistic approach and the strengthening of all stakeholders involved can create a resilient agricultural sector.Following this understanding, the CATS Programme has partnere...

A four-day training workshop in Nursery Management and Forest Ecology was successfully completed in Dominica on August 10th, 2019. A total of ten people were trained including seven men and three women from the local communities.Training participantsThe training workshop was geared to support the reforestation of the Soufriere Scotts Head Watershed. The goal was to improve the general ecological health and services of the watershed to maintain productive ecosystems in the adjoining Soufriere Sco...

The Caribbean Water and Sewerage Association (CAWASA), being a regional organisation of water utilities in the Caribbean, strives to bring together experts and practicioners of the water sector in the region and beyond. In its dedication to serving the growth and development of its members, CAWASA collects and disseminates knowledge and experiences through different channels. In this effort, a new means of knowledge distribution has been launched recently: the H2Operator Caribbean Podcast.T...

In its continued efforts to tackle the matter of non-revenue water in light of climate change, WASCO proudly hosts a Regional Training on the Demand and Distribution of Water. This training, which forms a part of the CATS-supported consultancy on Institutional and Organisational Strengthening of WASCO and Regional Water Utilities, is implemented by experts of the CONSULAQUA-COMO Consortium.The four-day training, taking place from July 1st to 4th 2019, brings together almost 20 technicians and ha...

The Soufriere Scotts Head Village Council has been one of CATS key partners within the Soufriere Scotts Head Marine Reserve (SSMR) Watershed in Dominica. Together, we have worked collaboratively on the Alums Stream Project, beach clean activities, community sensitization programs and well as support to fishermen and other interventions aimed at improving livelihood support and adaptation to climate change. This partnership continues to blossom and bear fruit. During CATS' most recent engagem...

The Caribbean Aqua-Terrestrial Solutions (CATS) Programme works with a number of governmental agencies and groups in selected watersheds across three focal countries in the Eastern Caribbean to improve research and data collection for environmental management. Best practices and effective monitoring of environmental parameters is hinged on accurate and reliable data for timely decision making. The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is revolutionizing how these critical datasets and monitoring ...