Project Name：Assisting the Economic Empowerment of Women Project in Latin America and the Caribbean in the Post COVID-19 Era Project / St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Project status：Projects in Operation

Cooperating Country：St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Project Description：

To support the post-pandemic economic recovery of our allies in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to maintain social stability through enhancing women's economic empowerment, this project aligns with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' policy planning. By integrating financial services with employment and entrepreneurial capacity building, it aims to assist women and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in coping with the impact of the pandemic, thereby promoting economic recovery and social stability in our allied countries. The main components of the project include:

1. Institutional capacity enhancement
2. Vocational skills training for women
3. Women's entrepreneurship incubation and guidance
4. Relief guidance for MSMEs

Implementation Start Date：2021-08-01

Implementation End Date：2025-12-31

Project Objectives：

1. Enhance institutional functions.
2. Provide vocational skills training for women.
3. Offer women’s entrepreneurship incubation and guidance.
4. Provide relief guidance for MSMEs.

Executing Agency：

Ministry of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Youth, Housing and Informal Human Settlement. 

Ministry of Education and National Reconciliation.

The Center for Enterprise Development (CED) of Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology.

Taiwan Technical Mission in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Current Progress：

By the end of April 2024, the project successfully concluded with the following achievements:

1. Institutional function Enhancement (DACE) for 2 institutions, the software and hardware facilities of the DACE will be optimized to expand the capacity for training courses and train more women to upgrade their vocational skills. And enhance the hardware and software facilities of the Skills Training Center to expand its capacity to accommodate more MSMEs, promote female entrepreneurs' capability in operating their businesses, aim at creating more jobs, and trained 369 institution staffs.
2. Vocational Skills Training for Women. Providing hands-on courses on the knowledge and skills required by women at different stages of micro-entrepreneurship, total organized 16 training sessions and trained 306 women, counseled 12 cases of proposal submitted.
3. Women's Entrepreneurial Development Counseling: Providing guidance to the trainees in writing their business plans, discussing possible business models, and assisting in matching funds and angel investors to increase their chances of success, total organized 42 training sessions and provided coaching service to 47 startups.
4. Relief counseling for MSMEs. Providing guidance to MSMEs such as conducting training sessions on business management and financial planning in production, marketing, human resources and finance to strengthen their business capacity to cope with the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, total organized 42 training sessions and provided coaching service to 47 startups.

Project Contact：TINGYU CHOU

Phone：+886-2-28886052

E-mail：t.y.chou@icdf.org.tw

Signing Date：2021-08-01

Projected Benefits：

The project aims to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on St. Vincent and the Grenadines' economic growth and social stability. By integrating financial services with employment and entrepreneurial capacity building, the project supports women and MSMEs in coping with the pandemic, promoting economic recovery and social stability in allied countries.

Mission：Taiwan Technical Mission in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines