Germany's development policy provides answers to the global issues of the future. Our guidelines for this are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

The Caribbean is one of the world’s regions worst hit by climate change. The warming, acidification and heavy pollution of the oceans pose an existential threat to the region’s biodiversity, with its coral reefs, mangroves and tropical forests. The population of the islands and archipelagos suffers particularly from the consequences of drought, torrential rain, hurricanes and other impacts of climate change.

The Caribbean states use fossil fuels (coal, oil, diesel, natural gas) as their primary energy source. Importing these fuels incurs high costs and hinders necessary public investment.

Therefore Germany’s development projects in the region focus on Environmental Policy, Conservation and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources as well as Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency.

These projects help to increase the Caribbean states’ resilience in the face of climate change and to protect biodiversity. In the area of renewable energies and energy efficiency they contribute to reduce the dependency of Caribbean states on fossil fuel imports. The projects are implemented by the “German Society for International Cooperation” (GIZ).

Additionally, Germany has established the “International Climate Initiative” (IKI) to support approaches in developing and emerging countries to address the pressing issues of climate change.

Small Grants Scheme

The German Embassy supports a programme of micro-scale projects as part of Germany's overall development co-operation that contributes to poverty alleviation and improvement of living standards.

As one of the conditions for the provision of this support, micro-scale projects must be beneficial to the population in the project area and be carried out by local contributors. The scheme's main objective is to improve the social and economic situation of underprivileged population groups who require small amounts of financial aid in initiating “self-help” projects.

Info Sheet Small Grants Scheme

Application Form

Kindly note that this specific funding is only available for projects in
DOMINICA, GRENADA, GUYANA, ST. LUCIA, ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES and SURINAME.