Catholic Relief Services, with support from USAID/OFDA and in partnership with CARITAS, has implemented the Youth Emergency Action Committees (YEAC) project in vulnerable communities in Saint Lucia.

To this end, the YEAC project in Saint Lucia will host a project overview later this month. The purpose of the activity is to provide a forum that will foster an understanding of the project and its initiatives.

The YEAC project is based and built upon the experiences and successes of community risk reduction through Youth Emergency Action Committees in the urban neighborhoods of Kingston, Jamaica (2009-2011).

Project activities include the formation and strengthening of YEACs in highly vulnerable communities; engaging youth as leaders in a process of community risk reduction; training community members in disaster preparedness, mitigation, and management; developing community hazard risk reduction plans; and selecting, planning, and implementing hazard risk mitigation activities.

The current phase of the YEAC project is designed to strengthen the regional emergency response capacity and the network of Youth Emergency Action Committees (YEACs) in the Caribbean, by consolidating and reinforcing capacity building accomplished in previous phases, and to create a regional emergency response network to ensure greater sustainability, and thoroughly document the experience so that others may benefit from the work and replicate it.

The project overview will be held on Feb. 28, at the Cardinal Kelvin Felix Pastoral Centre in Marisule, at 9:30 a.m.

The project has also been implemented in Grenada.