Everytime a visitor leaves Belize by land, or air, the cash register at PACT rings up another $7.50. That's a lot of cha-ching's and this morning PACT was sharing it around. The conservation trust this morning handed over two grants in excess of $62,000 to two environment friendly agencies. At the same time it officially launched it's strategic plan for the next five years. We were there and found out how the monies will be used and how the plan will guide future grants to conservation groups.
Alfonso NobleReporting,
The Protected Areas Conservation Trust handed over checks to the Gales Point Manatee Wildlife Sanctuary for $27,780 and another to the Ya'axche Conservation Trust for $34,700. And while it may seem simple enough to hand over $62,480 in grants, Executive Director Valerie Woods says it's not. These NGO's undergo rigorous scrutiny to qualify for grants to avoid misspent money.
Valerie Woods, Executive Director PACT
"There's a monitoring and evaluation component that we do. It's a painstaking exercise but we do it on a regular basis based on the implementation plan. Each project has to come with a timeline of when they are going to do certain things and we don't give all funding at the onset. So we will give a first tranche, if you will, as an example for the first two months or three months and if those activities were not accomplished to other satisfaction, then we do not disburse the second. We can cancel and we can suspend projects. We've had issues where we've had to recommend to the board that some projects, or some NGOs, coming to us need to be particularly monitored either because they lacked the capacity wherewithal to carry out or do what they intend to do and sometimes we've had to work with applicants or potential recipients to narrow down the scope of what they want to do. And really we are not about to check, a trust fund is not in the business of rejecting, it is in the business of encouraging projects for conservation."
And this time around the two NGO's who got the green light and the green bills to carry out their work say the money will go a long way in their conservation efforts.
Bartolo Teul, Program Coordinator Ya'axhce Conservation Trust
"This grant is quite straightforward. It is going to be used for the creation of a management plan for our private protected area. Its going to be extremely important to the work that we do in that it will guide us to be more effective in our conservation efforts in the Golden Stream Watershed."
Lincoln McSweaney, Gales Point Manatee Wildlife Sanctuary
"This grant will be used to help us turn out the work of the Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary. Most of it will go towards buying materials and so forth for the project. In the rural committee, we do not have the financial resources. All we have is the technical resources so when we get in a situation like that when need an engine or a boat or something like this, that's when organizations like PACT comes in and in Gales Point we really appreciate that."
And while he's appreciative of the funding that will see the continuation of the work they carry out at gales point monitoring of hawksbill turtles, woods says it's this kind of initiative that has driven pact over the past 8 and a half years. Now to continue their funding, pact underwent a year-long process to formulate a strategic plan that was presented today.
Valerie Woods,
"The plan is based on some tough criticisms by, as I mentioned in my presentation, grantees who have been successful in getting grants, those who have been denied, those who have had their grants suspended, cancelled, or perhaps rated unsuccessful. So it is based on actual practical realities on the ground, not on textbook exercises at all. This is based on a year of consultations and dialogues that do business with PACT and who have told us quite frankly, and openly in a constructive manner, 'listen this is what we think you need to do if you're going to make a long term impact.'"
PACT's revenue source is derived from a $7.50 departure tax on tourists as well as a 20% head tax on cruise visitors. It also secures funding from local and international conservation donors.
