WHEN newly elected Executive President, Dr. Cheddi Jagan assumed office in 1992, the social, economic, and physical infrastructures were completely devastated, and this stymied the government’s thrust to empower vulnerable communities. 

As a result, many successful interventions to assist depressed communities — especially Albouystown, Tiger Bay, and Agricola — were undertaken by the government, with support from primarily the private sector and the Guyana Police Force under then Commissioner, Mr. Laurie Lewis, with various arms of the State providing assistance wherever it was possible. Many of those programmes have subsequently become integral to the government’s social development drive.
One of those successful collaborative programmes has assumed a synergy that has evolved to envelop communities on a national scale, and it all began with a simple request from then Chairman of the True Vision Foundation in Albouystown, Mr. Randolph Thorne, for Dr. Jagan to help his badly depressed, problem-prone community out of the morass of criminality, depression and hopelessness into which it had it sunk over decades of neglect.
Dr. Jagan delegated ‘Dollar-a-Year’ PR adviser, Mr. Vic Insanally, who had put all the resources of his business agency, GuyEnterprise, to help with the restorative process of the country. Vic’s immense standing in the business community was exploited to the fullest, and the response by the private sector was immediate and satisfactory.
But two programmes that have been sustained began in Albouystown and Tiger Bay (Rosemary Lane). Tony Amres, of Readymix Concrete Ltd, did an initial survey of the situation in Albouystown. What he discovered was that even on the hottest of days, many sections of the community remained under water, with faeces and garbage swirling around stairways. Young people congregated and planned destructive things, because there was no outlet for their energies; and the poverty was stark and searing.
The canal on ‘The Boulevard’ had been filled in by a myopic PNC administration, and the Sussex Street canal was so clogged up that persons and animals could comfortably traverse its width without being bogged down.
The Sussex Street koker had been defunct for many years, thus the silting up of the channel made it absolutely impossible to open the sluice door. In addition, there was a fish-processing complex built on the government reserves immediately next to the sluice, so it was impossible to get machinery close enough to dig the channel.
A Guyenterprise representative spearheaded a team, which strategized on ways to address all the burning issues that needed immediate redress. Then, the Ministry of Local Government sent a backhoe to clear the Sussex Street canal. Toolsie Persaud Ltd undertook to clear all the sections that the backhoe could not reach, right up to the koker. And Mr Tony Amres prevailed upon Eddie Vieira, of EC Investments Ltd, to load a hymac onto a pontoon to dredge the outfall, while then Public Works Minister, Mr Tony Xavier bought tools and paid a labour force from the community to clean the drains and streets in their environs.
The objectives of the project were multi-pronged. Residents of the community were provided employment, while the community itself was cleansed of decades of filth. During that exercise, it was discovered that Albouystown has probably the best drainage system in the city. Also, for the first time in decades, Albouystown became completely dry on sunny days. Pride slowly returned to the community, and residents began cleaning their yards and personal spaces, including their parapets.
The filled-in canal on ‘The Boulevard’, popularly called ‘Punt-Trench Dam’, had become a mountainous garbage dump, from one end to the other. Tony Xavier sent in equipment, and members of the private sector provided trucks to haul away the garbage, after which Tony Amres covered the length of ‘The Boulevard’ with sand, which provided the youths of the community with a practice area for sports; the children a play area; and the entire community with wholesome recreational space.
For the first time in history, Albouystown held a massive 24-hour family affair to celebrate Mashramani, with then Prime Minister Janet Jagan an honoured visitor. Street football tournaments and boxing matches returned to their former glory days in the community. All these activities were collaborative endeavours among the private sector, the Police Force, the communities and the government.
Similarly, on a lesser scale, but just as effective in nurturing children and a community, is the Rosemary Lane (Tiger Bay) project initiated by Guyenterprise, the private sector, and then Police Commissioner Laurie Lewis, with the police being the facilitators. Today, it still remains a vibrant programme which has indubitably saved many young persons from that depressed community following wrong pathways, and leading them towards pursuing productive lives.
Young school drop-outs of depressed communities were also afforded the opportunity to learn skills and garner experience in various disciplines by several business houses, and today, many of those once aimless young people have become valued and loyal members of staff of those business entities, plying their respective trades in various areas of expertise.
The Board of Industrial Training (BIT) was established in 1910 under the Industrial Training Act, Chapter 39:04, Laws of Guyana. At the time of its promulgation, the Act was described thus: “An Act to provide for the promotion of Industrial Training”. As such, the focus of BIT was formal Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as it relates to apprenticeship within the industrial sector.
These apprenticeship programmes have four-year duration, with provisions made for shortened two-year programmes in special cases where the applicant would have had previous technical training.
Training is offered in various engineering fields, such aspects as mechanical, electrical and building construction with funding sometimes provided through collaboration with the private sector and other non governmental agencies.
The President’s Youth Choice Initiative, established by former President Bharrat Jagdeo and many ‘Techvoc’ and other youth education and empowerment programmes are also contributory efforts through public-private partnerships to give youths of the nation the right direction in charting pathways to a progressive future, bright with promise for individuals, communities and the country in general.