The Toco Foundation is a prominent non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the North East coast of Trinidad which is committed to empowering the communities it serves by providing comprehensive educational services in the areas of literacy; computer science; communications; health; as well as environmental preservation programmes.
For the past fifteen (15) years, the Foundation has and continues to partner with various stakeholders such as the government of Trinidad and Tobago; civil society organisations; private sector organisations; regional and international agencies to empower grass roots people.
GWP-C together with Project representatives from the National Institute of Higher Education Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST) also a GWP-C partner, were able to engage in valuable discussions on future sustainable projects/programmes with the Foundation.
In pointing out the needs of the communities on the North East coast, Mr. Michael Als, Project Director of the Toco Foundation spoke of the organisation’s plans to develop a rainwater harvesting programme for the area. He explained that the Foundation aims to set up approximately fifty (50) rainwater harvesting systems along the North East coast with possible financial assistance from the Green Fund of Trinidad and Tobago.
In light of GWP-C’s recent development of its Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) model and public awareness activities on best practices in harvesting rainwater, it sees this as an opportunity to support and provide technical advice to the Toco Foundation.
More specifically, the project ‘Water for Life: The Trinidad and Tobago Initiative’ of which GWP-C is a Steering Committee member, aims to set-up a rainwater harvesting system in the Toco Community. The project ‘Water for Life: The Trinidad and Tobago Initiative’ was launched in Trinidad in 2009 with the aim to deliver safe drinking water systems to school children and rural communities of Trinidad and Tobago. The overall project is funded by a three-year renewable grant for USD $300,000 from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Blue Water Project.
The Toco community is one of three communities earmarked by the Water for Life Project to set-up a fully functional rainwater harvesting system.
On GWP-C’s visit to the Toco Foundation, it was able to provide members of staff with information on rainwater harvesting and details of its rainwater harvesting model as well as information on the work and activities of GWP-C.