New employment initiative to empower indigenous youths

Over 500 Amerindian youths are set to be benefit from a new employment initiative, which will also see them being given a stipend to assist in their respective village management and administration.
Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai said the Amerindian Affairs Ministry will be heading this employment programme, whereby it will seek to recruit, at the least three each from the 169 Amerindian communities, and equip them with training to serve as a semi-Community Development Officer (CDO).

Minister Sukhai said that youths, in addition to inspecting and monitoring development programmes within their villages, will also contribute to scrutinising Community Development Projects (CDPs,) which are soon to come on-board. CDPs are projects encompassing areas such as agriculture, tourism, mining, transportation and small businesses designed to transform the village economies.
The youths will receive a stipend of Gy$25,000-$35,000 per month and the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs is hoping to launch the programme and commence the training by June.
The ministry will seek the assistance of the village toshao and council in identifying the youths who will participate in the programme, Minister Sukhai said.
This new initiative is among many introduced to better the lives of the hinterland residents. The Hinterland Scholarship Programme caters for Hinterland students who gain 470 to 479 marks at the National Grade Six Assessment to be granted a regional scholarship to attend schools in their regions and those with 480 and above are granted a national scholarship to attend a secondary school in Georgetown. After completing their studies, they can then apply for scholarships to pursue studies overseas or at the University of Guyana.
Students are also given the opportunity to pursue skills training at the residential facility, the Kuru Kuru Training Centre on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
Through the Health Ministry’s training programme, hinterland youths are encouraged to apply to receive training in a number of areas such as nurse, nurse aide and technicians.
Sport is now being promoted in hinterland areas and the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport is pursuing a hinterland sport strategy in this regard.
In education, young teachers are afforded the opportunity to receive training right in their regions through the Distance Education Learning programme.