THE ORGANIZATION of American States (OAS), through its Development Co-operation Fund has approved a grant of US$100,000 to support the Centre for Enterprise Development (CED) with its project to accelerate the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG),through innovation and technology.

This project will be implemented by CED during the OAS/DCF’s 2021-2024 project cycle under the theme: ‘Retooling MSME ´s through innovation and technology’, the CED said in a release. The goal of the project is to help MSMEs achieve economic recovery and sustainable development by promoting change in strategies and business practices through technology and innovation.

Under this project, the CED will execute the Resilience through Innovation and Technology (RIT) MSME Recovery Programme, which features a series of training and other initiatives geared towards strengthening the capacity and digitization processes of MSMEs. The first activity under the project will be a one-week workshop on Design Thinking to Develop a Business by CED scheduled for April 25-29.

The Development Cooperation Fund (DCF) of the Organization of American States (OAS) is supported by the annual voluntary contributions of OAS Member States and is geared towards addressing their most urgent development needs, particularly among those with smaller and more vulnerable economies. In its programming, the Fund emphasises institutional and human resource capacity building as the basis for sustainable development.

Since 1997 the OAS / DCF, formerly FEMCIDI has provided over US$100 million to support OAS Member States in their efforts to reduce poverty and inequality by providing grants for more than 1100 projects in areas ranging from education, entrepreneurship, community development, small and medium enterprises, renewable energy resources, and science and technology, among others. In 2014, the DCF was restructured to become more innovative, participatory, and results-oriented, with a mandate to build synergies and strategic partnerships with like-minded organisations to bring even greater benefits to Member States and to capitalise on the growing opportunities for South-South co-operation in the region.