ACED, Regional Council implement
St. Martin Pride and Beauty Project
MARIGOT--Youth organisation Association Contre L’Exclusion et La Délinquance (ACED) and Guadeloupe’s Regional Council are collaborating on a beautification project for the French side that has created some forty jobs for unemployed persons over the next two years.
The signing of an agreement between ACED President Patrick Hénocq and Regional Council President Victorin Lurel in the Chamber of Commerce paves the way for the St. Martin Pride and Beauty Project to begin on May 1.
General Councillor Guillaume Arnell was the other signatory, signing on behalf of the General Council, a partner in the project together with Agence Départmentale D’Insertion (ADI) in Guadeloupe, the equivalent of ACED.
St. Martin Pride and Beauty follows similar environmentally-conscious programmes being undertaken in the provinces of Guadeloupe under the title “Gwadloup an nou bèl,” Creole for “A New Beautiful Guadeloupe.”
The Region and the General Council are providing the bulk of the funding for the St. Martin project at a cost of 1,880,000 euros. This will pay for training sessions, salaries, uniforms, horticultural and cleaning materials and equipment, planting of trees and shrubbery, and all social and medical charges for the workers.
The selected employees have all signed contracts. Their salaries will be paid by the General Council via ADI. Most of the employees were recruited from employment office ANPE, ACED and Mission Locale through interviews and background checks.
Coordinator of the project is Claude Tage. There are also a secretary and an assistant accountant.
“St. Martin can be much cleaner and more beautiful than it is presently,” noted Guillaume Arnell. “It’s not that the Commune is not doing its job, it’s just that much more effort has to be put into keeping the island clean, knowing how fragile our tourist industry is. That’s why we have initiated the project. It also gives hope to those people who otherwise find themselves excluded from the job market.”
Regional Councillor Louis Mussington, who was instrumental in making sure St. Martin would also be a beneficiary of the Guadeloupe programmes, said ACED was an ideal candidate to pilot the project.
“I’m especially pleased these people have jobs and will not be on the streets,” said Mussington. “They will learn about the environment and its protection and in the future will be able to start their own businesses. We are killing two birds with one stone: creating jobs and taking care of the environment. But now these workers must prove themselves by being punctual, respectful, and by showing a good attitude to their work.”
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