Antigua Breaking News

Top Trusted News Source in Antigua

Search
Previous slide
Next slide

Montserrat Alliouagana’s Festival of the Word Returns November 18 to 20

Share this article:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

The Alliouagana Festival of the Word is back for its 13th rendition this November.

Slated for November 18th to 20th under the theme Our Future, Our Stories, the festival will be a blend of online and offline events.

Festival Coordinator Nerissa Golden of Goldenmedia said she was delighted to be facilitating another exciting programme to celebrate the best of Montserrat’s literature.

Partnering with the festival committee to deliver events this year is the Montserrat Arts Council and the Ministry of Education through the Montserrat Public Library and the local primary schools. The library will host a week-long exhibition called Write Montserrat: A Literary Retrospective of Our Island’s Authors. Opening on Monday, November 15, the display will showcase the works of local authors in a variety of genres.

“Montserratians at home and abroad have been contributing to building our literature in many fields. We are honoured to present this collection for visitors to the library to enjoy,” Sonja Smith, the Librarian and Exhibit Curator said.

The Book Parade will be held on Thursday, November 18 and allows primary school children to bring their favourite storybook characters to live in costumes in a colourful street parade.

Be part of the conversation.

Let us know what you think by adding a comment below. Click here to start now!

The Arrow Symposium has been moved to Friday evening and will be aired virtually on the festival’s Facebook page. On the programme are two panels, one will look at Harnessing the Power of Arrow’s Legacy and the other What is the Story of Montserrat in the Future?

The Saturday morning workshops will also be held online and focus on various aspects of digital publishing from idea to final production and sales. These workshops are sponsored by the Montserrat Public Library.

New publications from seven of the island’s authors will be celebrated at the Saturday evening gala. Featured books include Edwin “Red Ride” Martin’s A Century of Montserrat’s Cricket, Marguerite Joseph’s Lady Under the Stairs and Norman Ryan’s Memoir. The fundraising event aims to highlight these new works which run the spectrum from poetry to business and self-help.

“Due to travel restrictions and other limitations, many of our authors have not been able to share their work in a public forum with readers and we believe that the literary festival is positioned to change this. We want to encourage the continued creation of our stories as this is how we shape the future,” the coordinator stated.

Follow the 2021 literary festival activities on Facebook at AFWLitFest or via #AFWLitFest.

Share this article:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Join the Conversation!

Comments are closed.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]