The Saint Lucia Development Bank (SLDB) is home to the Climate Adaptation Financing Facility (CAFF) which offers very low interest loans to homeowners and business owners to finance measures that build resilience to climate change impacts. Homeowners can access loans for a wide variety of applications, such as hurricane resilient window and roof replacements or retrofits; installation of solar panels, solar water heaters or rainwater harvesting systems; implementation of slope stabilization measures and improvement of drainage around properties.
To date, the CAFF has been particularly successful in enabling renewable energy installations with over a third of CAFF loans funding solar panels or solar water heaters. The CAFF is supported by Saint Lucia’s Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (DVRP). The SLDB proposes a school based CAFF Grant Competition as a creative means to raise island wide household awareness about the CAFF in order to increase the percentage of households benefiting from the Facility and spread the benefits more evenly across the island.
Competition Concept Summary
The CAFF Grant Competition will require students to conduct a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Carbon Footprint Assessment of their home or another approved home. Based on the findings, students will develop a costed proposal of suitable, feasible and affordable climate change adaptation and or mitigation measures that can be implemented to reduce climate change vulnerabilities, the household’s carbon footprint or both. The winning students will receive a personal prize and the household associated with the proposal will receive a grant sponsored by the CAFF to implement the proposed measures.
The SLDB CAFF Grant Competition seeks to achieve the following goals:
- Raise student awareness of climate change impacts and appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures, including conversions to renewable energy and energy efficiency measures
- Expose students to the practical steps involved in building climate resilience and reducing carbon footprints, including identifying, planning, funding and implementing adaptation and mitigation measures
- Increase island wide household awareness of and interest in the CAFF
- Increase CAFF benefits island wide
Target Audience and Reach
The CAFF Grant Competition will target the entire secondary school population (~10,985 students) and students of the Sir Author Lewis Community College (~1,891 students). Given the combined student population, the CAFF Grant Competition has the potential to reach up to 12,876 households.
Competition Requirements and Judging
Student Submissions
Competing students must complete and submit the following to enter the competition:
- Completed Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool and Carbon Footprint Assessment
- CAFF Proposal, including:
a. Description of risks and vulnerabilities based on the results of the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and assessment of the household’s carbon footprint.b. Detailed description of proposed solutions (adaptation and or mitigation measures), including their merits and why they are most suited for the particular situation. Proposals can focus strictly on adaptation measures, mitigation measures or both and should be developed based on the priorities identified by the findings of the assessments. Renewable energy installations are considered as both adaptation and mitigation measures.c. Broken down cost of proposed solutionsd. Implementation Plan, including proposed major tasks, timelines and responsible parties, including identification of required professional design and other services to implement solutions
Competition Categories
Based on the outcome of their Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, students will compete in one of the following competition categories:
- Low Vulnerability Home
- Moderate Vulnerability Home
- High Vulnerability Home
There will be one winner per category across the competition.
Ground Rules
Detailed eligibility and judging criteria will be developed and provided to competitors. As a
basic eligibility criteria, each proposal must be attached to a property where the proposed solutions can actually be implemented. Implementation of the solutions will be tracked by the SLDB. Students whose home may not be eligible may submit proposals in relation to any other property provided permission has been granted from the property owner to the student.
While the proposals are to be developed by students, they are expected to be developed in consultation with parents or the respective property owner if different. This is to ensure the competition goals are achieved by involving the wider household/community in the vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning exercise and to ensure measures included in winning proposals are practical for implementation. As such, parents or homeowners must sign
off on all proposals entered in the competition.
Judging Process
Initial judging will take place at each school by assigned school officials using the technical judging criteria provided. Initial judging will produce a pool of top proposals from each school that would be vetted by the SLDB to ensure households meet the basic eligibility criteria to receive the Adaptation Grant. To qualify, the recipient home must be able to implement the proposed adaptation measure(s), including financing any difference between the Adaptation Grant amount and the total project cost.
Vetted proposals will move on to the Finals Round,which will include a Proposal Pitch Competition judged by a panel comprising representatives from the SLDB, relevant government agencies, proposed partner organizations such as the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), a private sector expert and a popular cultural icon.
Support Tools and Information
Competing students will be provided with the following supporting tools and information:
- Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool
- Carbon Footprint Calculator
- CAFF Proposal template
- Online resource center with links to information about climate change risks, vulnerabilities and adaptation measures
- Contacts for local resource agencies and businesses that may be helpful in completing proposals
- Competition rules and judging guidelines
Information Dissemination and Marketing
All supporting tools and information for the competition will be hosted on a dedicated web page on the SLDB website. Direct and mass media marketing strategies will be employed to ensure that all students,associated households and the wider community are aware of and excited about the competition for which a catchy name will be created.
Direct marking will be done through partnership with participating schools and the Ministry/Department of Education and will include competition posters and mascots, classroom presentations, outreach through teachers and school clubs, student email campaigns and campus events, including a competition launch event and a live proposal pitch and judging event covered by the media. Traditional and social media will be engaged. The comprehensive marketing plan will be developed for the competition.
Timeframe
Competition Launch
End of October/November 2019
Dependent on the outcome of meetings with the Ministry of Education and key partners, the competition will be launched in either late October (around Creole Day)or in November (coinciding with Business Month events) under the competition theme –Building a Culture of Resilience. Competition planning, including finalization of support tools and information and marketing materials will be completed at least one (1) week before competition launch.
Submission Deadline
The deadline for submission of proposals will be Friday January 24, 2020. This is designed to give students ample time, including the Christmas break, to complete their proposals, including time to consultant with parents/property owners, conduct research and gather pricing information without impacting their ability to meet their ongoing academic obligations.
First Round Judging
First round judging by schools should be completed and results submitted to the SLDB by Friday February 7, 2019. SLDB verification checks for eligibility for the Grant will be completed by Friday February 21, 2019.
Final Judging
The final pitch competition and judging will take place on February 28, 2019 allowing Grants to be awarded in celebration of Independence Day.
Prizes
A winning student will be selected in each competition category and the prizes listed below awarded to the student and associated school and household.
High Vulnerability
- Student prize: Top of the line Smart Phone and Laptop Computer
- School prize : To be confirmed based on consultation
- Household prize: XCD 10,000 Grant
Moderate Vulnerability
- Student prize: Top of the line Smart Phone and Laptop Computer
- School prize: To be confirmed based on consultation
- Household prize: XCD 7,500 Grant
Low Vulnerability
- Student prize: Top of the line Smart Phone and Laptop Computer
- School prize: To be confirmed based on consultation
- Household prize: XCD 5,000 Grant
Contributions of Partnering Schools
The following is requested of partnering schools:
- Ongoing, active direct marketing of the CAFF Grant Competition to students and parents
- Reasonable teacher support and guidance to participating students
- Initial judging of proposals to select a pool of top proposals for final stage judging
within the required deadline