Australian volunteers take up assignments in SVG

Dr Annie Egan and Nicolas Harris have taken up assignments as the first volunteers in St Vincent and the Grenadines, under the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) programme.{{more}}

The AVID programme was officially launched here on Thursday, September 5, during a short ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conference room.

Egan has been assigned to the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College as the Renewable Energy Programme officer and Harris to the National Parks Authority as Environmental and Sustainable Livelihood officer. Both volunteers will serve for one year.

In welcoming the volunteers, Minister of National Mobilisation Maxwell Charles applauded the Australian government for extending a hand of help and expertise in the different areas.

“This, I know, is going to enhance the national development of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Charles said.

Regional director of Austraining International, Sally Brokensha, gave the assurance that the two volunteers are geared and ready to serve.

“We are just delighted that the programme has been so very warmly welcomed to St Vincent and the Grenadines and I know both Nick and Annie are both really keen to get started on their assignments next week and looking forward to tackling some of the issues of climate change that are confronting your very beautiful island,” the regional director stated.

Brokensha also revealed that two more volunteers are expected to arrive in November and two more in January of 2014.

Austraining International is a South Australian government owned specialist project management organisation, established in 1991. Austraining’s network includes more than 600 partner organizations in Australia, Asia, the Pacific region, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, where Austraining manages bilateral and multilateral projects. The AVID programme in the Caribbean also has volunteers in Dominica, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Guyana.