The US$150,000 Youth Empowerment Inclusion and Reconciliation Programme (YEIRP) is progressing smoothly, Local Government Ministry Permanent Secretary Collin Croal reported last Friday.
From Monday, 17 of the 30 youths from Regions Two to Six and 10 commenced their three-month work attachment at various entities within their respective regions. Croal explained that the remaining 13 youth leaders are already employed, so there was no need for a work attachment.
He told media operatives that the selected youths have been trained in keeping with the objectives of the programme, which seeks to address the challenges of inadequate youth participation in governance and social changes that deprive them their rights.
Subsequent to the completion of the internship programme, each of the selected regions will be allotted Gy$1 million for the execution of community projects by the selected representatives.
Another aspect of the YEIRP initiative is the establishment of information technology communication (ITC) hubs within the six regions.
“These hubs are intended to be placed with a computer and internet access,” he explained. Already, locations for the six ITC hubs have been identified and the computer systems are being procured.
CARILED
The youth employment programme, which is slated to be completed by March 2014, is being executed in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme.
Turning his attention to another programme executed under the supervision of the Local Government and Regional Development Ministry, the permanent secretary told reporters on Friday that the Caribbean Local Economic Development Project (CARILED) is back on track.
Acknowledging that the project had encountered some serious hiccups during the early stages of its implementation, Croal said Guyanese will soon benefit from this initiative, as the issues have been ironed out.
The process of recruiting local economic development officers (LEDOs) has ended, and project documents are presently being designed, he revealed.
CARILED is currently under the stewardship of the new director; Alix Yule, following the resignation of Dr Naresh Singh who stepped down after allegations of unethical conduct while heading the programme.
The national coordinator is now Dhanraj Singh, who took over following the resignation of Parmanand Chandernauth.
CARILED is a six-year, Cdn$23.2 million programme funded by CIDA. It was formulated with the aim of stimulating sustainable local economic development (LED) through the strengthening of competencies and capacities in local agencies of central government in a number of Caribbean Commonwealth countries.
It is estimated that the project will help approximately 50 local governments/agencies to implement or facilitate LED initiatives, with up to 500 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in seven countries. Guyana signed unto the programme in August, 2012.
