In light of the growing regional interest, and clear need and opportunities which were recognized for vetiver grass across Caribbean countries, the decision was made to form a network to sustain ongoing connectivity and knowledge sharing amongst communities and stakeholders, to help support and ensure that one day this marvellous plant and all of the social, economic and environmental benefits that come with it would accessible to all. Thus, The Vetiver Network West Indies (TVNWI) was born.

The launching of the platform and network was initially made possible through support from the British High Commission in Port of Spain who provided funding to IAMovement for this effort. Importantly, this allowed for development and creation of the TVNWI website – but the 2018 project also supported direct visits and outreach to the islands of Dominica, Saint Lucia and Antigua, where various forms of stakeholder outreach and public consultations were done to introduce and share more on vetiver grass and the VEEP model, and to explore interest by farmers, community members, local development partners and members of the public to be part of future initiatives to help bring vetiver solutions to their islands. These efforts were very successful – and where through other forms of support and partnership, some of these early outreach efforts were able to expand during this very same year to include direct training and Vetiver System (VS) implementation initiatives on the ground, in particular in Saint Lucia, where a first condensed VEEP initiative was carried out in the community of Canaries. From this effort a short film was captured to share more about vetiver grass and its role in communities with others locally and regionally, which was called ‘Taking Root in Canaries’.