The Grenadines is found in the Caribbean south of mainland St Vincent and is comprised of a chain of Islands.  The residents earn a living from fishing and tourism related activities.

NGOs and other small groups do not have the resources or knowledge to continually communicate with the public on environmental issues coupled with the absence of a media outlet in the Grenadines. Media outlets on the mainland provide low or no publicity on   environmental issues in the Grenadines. Paid advertising using these media sources is very expensive for small groups and NGOs to inform the public about their projects and work.

Radio Grenadines Inc. a Non-Profit organization is currently executing a project entitled ” Raising awareness on climate change and environmental issues through the establishment of an Internet Radio and Media Facility in the Grenadines” funded by the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, UNDP and In-Kind Partners.

Our project will run from September 2014 – August 2015 several activities will be conducted during this period.

Media Workshops and Climate Change Awareness

62 persons from 44 organizations throughout the Grenadines are now able communicate effectively with the public after 4 one day Media and Climate Change Awareness Workshops were held by Radio Grenadines Inc.

Participants included representatives from NGOs, Schools, Religious Groups, Clubs, Sports Teams, Cooperatives and other Civil Service Organizations.

On the 22nd September 2014 the Radio Grenadines team travelled to Bequia to conduct training there. We then journeyed  to Canouan on the 6th October 2014, Union Island on the 5th November 2014 and Mayreau on the  24th November 2014.

Participants were engaged in an interactive lecture and presentation on how to write effective press releases, use photos and videos to document their activities

Participants also were made aware of the Radio Grenadines publishing platform and got information on how they can publish press releases free of cost.

Katrina Collins-Coy, President of the Union Island Environmental Attackers and an Environmental Activist delivered lectures on climate change and other environmental topics. Participants were given an overview of what is climate change and how it can affect small islands.

The theme for the workshops was “Your Network is your Net Worth”. Networking among the groups was encouraged through various exercises where persons were made aware of the functions and activities of other groups.

Stanton Gomes, founder of Radio Grenadines Inc, spoke on the effectiveness of press releases and how it would bring awareness on groups and the community activities they are engaged in.

Paint Job for Radio Grenadines New Office and Radio Studio

We moved into our new office at the Mesa Benji Mall at Clifton , Union Island, in September 2014. Our office was in need of a new paint job so we asked for assistance.We decided to go with an attractive green and Giancarlo, owner of the Barracuda Restaurant donated the paint. Painter “Ben” along with the group members from Radio Grenadines volunteered to paint our entire office.

LIME On-Board!

The Telecommunications Company LIME came on board with Radio Grenadines, supporting our project and donated  Internet Service to power our facility for 1 year. Nadia Young from the Union Island Branch made the handover.

Community Hand-Print Mural 

On Friday 24th October 2014 over 40 persons on Union Island came out in support of Radio Grenadines to create a wall Mural. Local Artist and craft maker Dannis Coy plastered a variety of colored paint onto different sizes of hands for the design.

The idea behind the activity was to bring  awareness on our project to establish a community media and internet radio station on the island. So the next time you are in Clifton be sure to stop by and have a look at our community hand printed mural and see if you can guess whose hands they are.

Internet Radio Broadcast Facility

In January 2015 we received our brand new set of Media Equipment for our Internet Radio and Media Facility. The equipment came as part of our current project funded by GEF SGP, UNDP to establish an internet radio and media facility.

The equipment will enable us to conduct in-studio interviews and discussion as well as host live talk-shows in and out of the facility. The team is busy installing and testing them to make sure that we have the right sound and no interruptions. Upon completion, we would host a series of environmental radio talk-shows; where persons will be able to win prizes, along with other community based shows and interviews. So keep in touch, Like our Facebook page and keep informed via our website.

The Media component of the facility will also function to improve the media coverage of NGO/CBO activities  and other live events by way of written articles, video and use of photos and social media ie. NGOs conducting environmental activities can call on Radio Grenadines to provide media coverage for dissemination to its network.

This facility will also function as an incubator for students who are interested in media and radio broadcasting to have practical experience in broadcasting .

Radio Broadcast Training 

To date we have over 20 volunteers. Volunteers will have a chance to undergo 2 weeks of Broadcast Training free of cost and practice these skills using our equipped facility by way of talks-shows and conducting interviews.

Climate Change Talk Shows

Radio Grenadines will deliver a total of 80 environmental radio shows (focusing on climate change and additional topics covering all of GEF SGP themes) and an interactive radio question and answer segment where persons will be prompted to research for answers to call in on the show and answer questions, this method will cause an increase in retention span of information. Persons will be able to win prizes (educational, such as environmental books, school supplies etc) on the shows, this will create a level of excitement and anticipation resulting the environmental shows to be effectively disseminated.