Hinterland Employment and Youth Service Programme all ready for Oct 1

The Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Ministry has announced that the Hinterland Employment and Youth Service Programme, announced by the Government of Guyana in August to replace the Youth Entrepreneurship and Apprentice Programme, will be officially launched on October 1.

This was according to Ministerial Advisor on Indigenous Affairs, Mervyn Williams in a telephone interview with this publication. Williams shared that the final documents to solidify the programme were in their advanced stages and everything seemed to be on track.

As for consultations, the Ministerial Advisor stated that they had begun talks with indigenous persons in their villages as soon as the new Government had come into office making them fully aware of areas that needed assistance.

Williams stated that recently, they had held several public meetings to listen to issues that affect the villagers of indigenous communities and what could be done to rectify their situation. He noted that all of the Ministry’s actions in these villages were a reflection of what the Government felt was necessary.

In Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), Williams explained, the Ministry held about 10 major public meetings where it had made contact with members of about 35-40 villages. The Ministry also spoke to several villages in Regions One (Barima-Waini), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

To provide more helpful information as to what would be needed in the villages and would in turn make this new programme successful, Williams stated that the Ministry has been in constant contact with the Executive Committee of the National Toshaos Council (NTC).

He added that the aim of this programme was to provide training to persons where they live, in specific fields to suit the specific needs of the communities, and he was certain that the programme would accomplish just so.

An estimated 2000 plus hinterland youths are expected to benefit from this programme after the Government terminated YEAP, an initiative of the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), because its operations were found to be “political”.

Under the YEAP initiative, indigenous youths, aged 18-40 in the various hinterland villages and communities, were supposed to benefit from technical and governance training, to support their performance as Community Support Officers (CSOs) in village development.

The YEAP aimed at professionalising young people, while promoting personal and educational development and creating employment opportunities, regardless of the political persuasion of CSOs. The programme also provided stipends to the CSOs thereby helping to increase village income while boosting the local economy.

“Our observation was that the young people were doing more political work (rather) than giving support to their councils and communities,” Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Minister Sydney Allicock had explained. (jpinder@guyanatimesgy.com)