Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – 31 March 2026 – Kidspace Education Ltd has launched Rooted: From Garden to Cup, a vocational pilot programme that places students with special needs at the helm of a real, revenue-generating business. Backed by the Digicel Foundation and the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) through the Innovation Challenge for Persons with Disabilities, the programme walks students through every stage of herbal tea production — from planting and harvesting to drying, blending, packaging, and selling.

The Woodbrook-based school equips its special needs students with the life skills, independence, and employment readiness to participate fully in community and economic life. With the Innovation Challenge funding, Kidspace has installed 12 vertical hydroponic drip irrigation towers producing rotating harvests of mint, lemon balm, orange balm, and other herbs, alongside a fully equipped, commercial-grade processing space with dehydrators, refrigeration units, stainless-steel surfaces, and utility sinks.

Production tasks are carefully broken into structured steps and organised by station to accommodate a range of ability levels. Students actively handle harvesting, sorting, dehydration preparation, packaging, and quality checking, building real skills through real work.

“Through this initiative, our students are gaining hands-on experience in agricultural production and building practical life and employment skills that support greater independence. We’re seeing firsthand how innovative approaches to vocational training can create inclusive pathways for participation in economic and community life,” said Rynelle Boyce, Director of Kidspace Education Ltd.

Discussions are already underway with local bakeries and businesses to stock the student-produced tea line, a tangible commercial outcome that demonstrates what inclusive enterprise can achieve. The Innovation Challenge for Persons with Disabilities was developed by the Digicel Foundation in collaboration with GEF-SGP as a grant programme specifically designed to advance entrepreneurship and economic inclusion for people with disabilities, signalling that persons with disabilities are capable contributors to society.

ENDS

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