BPTT prepares Mayaro NGOs to handle tough times

This virtual ‘call to action’ was made to some 125 representatives of community groups in Mayaro who graduated on Wednesday from a series of capacity-building workshops organised by energy company BP Trinidad and Tobago.

Delivering the feature address at the Mayaro Resource Centre, Rachel Caines, Corporate Responsibility Advisor, bpTT, advised graduates: “Do not waste the opportunities presented by the downturn in the economy.” Caines told the community representatives: “It is in the midst of crises that NGOs and CBOs shine brightest. For 13 years, bpTT has helped to strengthen the institutional capacity and knowledge base of NGOs and CBOs in this community.

In an almost ironic sense, we have been preparing for 13 years for this precise moment in time, where NGOs and CBOs are needed now more than ever to fill the gap created by the retreat of the state and the slowdown of investment by the private sector.

“You, the NGOs and CBOs of Mayaro and Guayaguayare stand in this gap providing the goods and services that the state and the private sector are unable to support. It is to you that people turn to when they need help in tough times.

When donations and sponsorship funding is scarce, you will show us real value for money. Therefore, let us not ‘waste this downturn’.

This economic downturn is your opportunity to review, re-focus and re-position your organisation, so you can take advantage of the changed environment and eventually thrive when more stable and favourable economic conditions return in the future.” The annual workshops, which started in 2003, impart a range of skills and knowledge to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) to enable them to carry out sustainable projects and programmes in their respective communities.

For graduate Judy Perotte-Julien, her participation in the capacity- building workshop has been an ‘eye-opener’ and of great assistance in her business enterprise. “With the knowledge and information I have received I am in a better position to run my small business in a more professional manner to make it profitable. We all thank bpTT for empowering us in so many ways,” noted Perotte-Julien, who serves on a number of organisations in Mayaro.

Andrew Cross, principal consultant, Cross & Associates, training agency conducting the workshops, urged the graduates to continue to improve themselves and their communities and to make full use of the investment made by bpTT.