– in forefront of measures to tackle social ills at Itaballi

FOR the next three years, the Community Development Council (CDC) in Itaballi will be focusing on creating a more enabling environment for youth development, in an attempt to develop the human capital of the region.

“What we are trying to promote is good morals, i.e., teaching them their value and understanding who they really are, so that we can have a change taking place in the community,” Itaballi’s CDC Chairperson, Coleen Singh told Guyana Chronicle.
Singh was recently re-elected as the chairperson of the CDC and will serve at the head of this Council for the next three years.

According to her, Itaballi is facing a number of social ills, including drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and high rates of school dropouts but efforts are being made to address these problems.
“We believe that there is room for change as long as we educate our people,” she said.

Itaballi is located in Region Seven and is an entrance to Guyana’s interior through the Puruni to Itaballi trail. At the forefront of the community, closest to the access point by river, is a commercial hub where vehicles heading to the interior or coming back out, stop to get their supplies.
Coleen believes that the issues facing the community are due to lack of the economic activities and its geographic location.
“There are several things that we have tried to do with our young people; this year we are focusing on sports. We are trying to use that to get our young men occupied,” she said.
In fact, she detailed that a few young men from the community have already reached out to her, to get funding for sports gear and she has indicated that the yearly presidential grant to the community will cover these.

SKILLS TRAINING

The Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) was also initiated in the community, and Coleen shared that 18 young ladies benefitted from skills training and quite a few of them are now actively involved in businesses.
And, through President Granger’s ‘5Bs’ programme, which is geared at promoting access to education, a boat has been donated to ease the burden of transportation costs for children.
“Transportation is very expensive in Itaballi and we are very grateful for that boat… otherwise the children would have to pay $500 to go and $500 to come every day, and parents would still have to find money for food,” Coleen explained.
Still, even with these interventions, the chairperson acknowledged that these measures are not enough to curb the ills confronting the community.

“You would find that because of the location and what happens in the community, that contribute to children not attending school,” she noted, and explained that for some young boys, it is a race to get to a certain age, so that they can start working in the “bush” (interior locations).
She added: “Some parents are not educated and the kind of lifestyle that they have, they are usually away [working in the interior] and not much interest is given to all children.”
Moreover, persons would complain that accessing the schools via the road is a challenge because the road becomes very dusty in the dry weather and easily inundated in the rainy weather.
“[School dropouts] are a problem that we are trying to look into but we can’t totally eliminate it,” Coleen said.

CHALLENGE

“One of the biggest challenges in getting young people who move away from the education system, and who move away from the traditional settings where they can earn an income through these settings, is what exactly are you using to incentivise them to come to these spaces,” said youth activist, Derwayne Wills.
According to him, the decision to go to school every morning is dependent upon how their values are constructed. These values are shaped by their immediate environment, whether socially, legally, economically, or otherwise, and stem from the individual’s sense of survival.

Itaballi thrives economically off of its position as the gateway to the interior and many of the avenues for employment are structured around this.

Wills explained that there must be incentives given to the children and/or their families, as this would encourage them to stay in school and focus on achieving the long-term benefits of schooling.
The incentives, he said, could be anything from stipends, public assistance or helping families to pay some of their bills.

Coleen, on her part, said she continues to mull over ways of promoting education.
“This time around we plan on educating our young people because that’s the only way we can get change. We could try with infrastructure but we have found out that people are more important,” she said
The chairperson also indicated that the council will look into facilitating a
few training programmes that could promote capacity building. The aim is to help persons, thereafter, create income generating projects through small and microenterprises (SMEs).

“We’ve gotta find a way how to motivate the youths,” Coleen said, adding: “It’s something that’s hard to control, but we believe that if we can influence one or two or three families that would be great progress.”