| Background
The
Gilbert's Agricultural & Rural Development Center
(GARDC) is located on the historic Gilbert's Estate
in Antigua and Barbuda in the Eastern Caribbean , which
is owned and managed by the Trust of the Methodist Church
in the Caribbean & the Americas MCCA).GARDC evolved
as an entity from a two year pilot project which was
implemented in 1989 as a collaborative effort amongst
the MCCA, the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA)/Canada Training Awards Project (CTAP), and the
Government of Antigua-Barbuda. |
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GARDC
evolved as an entity from a two year pilot project which was
implemented in 1989 as a collaborative effort amongst the
MCCA, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)/Canada
Training Awards Project (CTAP), and the Government of Antigua-Barbuda.
The
mission of this pilot project, known as the Young Farmers
Training Project was two-fold. The mission of this pilot project
was to train young people in practical agriculture and demonstrate
and promote farming as a worthy and viable occupation. This
mission evolved from CIDA/CTAP's recognition that the average
age of the Caribbean farmer was 50 years, and it was apparent
that the younger generation was not selecting agriculture
or its related industries as an occupational choice.
Farming
unfortunately was viewed by many young people as drudgery,
high risk and not a viable means to increase one's standard
of living. With this reality in mind, a collaborative partnership
was formed involving:
- The
MCCA who provided the land for a demonstration farm, classroom
and office facilities.
- The
CIDA/CTAP who contributed financial support for a Consultant,
Project Manager, Tutors, trainee stipends and training materials.
- The
Government of Antigua-Barbuda who contributed utilities,
technical staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and provision
of lands for the graduates of the programs. Because of the
success of the two-year pilot project, the MCCA and the
project management saw the need to broaden the objectives
of the project and establish a full time training and rural
development center. As a rural development and training
center, the GARDC has responded to changing trends as it
tries to prevent the threatened drop in the standard of
living. Since 1993 the Center had offered agricultural and
enterprise training to youth between the ages of sixteen
and thirty since 1993. In 1996 the Center began targeting
the training of unemployed and low-income women. This training
focused on life skills and entrepreneurial skills with specific
emphasis in the use of natural resources in agriculture
and other forms of rural enterprises. It is with this background
that the GARDC has developed it pace setting-programs as
an effective response in targeting youth and women in an
effort to improve their welfare and standard of living and
to address and ensure their continued development and sustainability.
It is in this context, through the mechanism of the MCCA,
that GARDC was created as a social investment in people.
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