SINCE November, 2010, the European Union [EU] has been funding a capacity building project in the Amerindian village of Sand Creek in the South Rupununi, as part of the EU’s Non State Actors/Local Authorities [NSA/LA] programme.

The $37M programme hosted, on Thursday last, a ceremony for 71 graduates in the areas of garment construction, and costing, tendering and construction management, with a satisfactory proportion of the graduates being women.
The Sand Creek project has been facilitated by the University of Guyana’s Institute for Distance and Continuing Education, to enable capacity building of personnel in the community to perform community based activities. Other aspects of the project involved capacity building of project personnel and village captains towards community-based initiatives, through training in key areas of leadership and management. It also aims to increase the educational levels of Amerindian people in the highly populated villages, while making special provisions for the involvement of women and individuals with disabilities to pursue programmes/courses in order to upgrade levels of qualifications and competencies.
Head of Delegation of the EU to Guyana, Ambassador Robert Kopecký, travelled to Sand Creek to be part of the graduation proceedings. Ambassador Kopecký was joined by Professor Jacob Opadeyi, Vice Chancellor (and Acting Chancellor) of University of Guyana; Mr Vincent Alexander, Registrar, University of Guyana; Ms. Winifred Kippins, Director of the Institute for Distance and Continuing Education, University of Guyana; Mr Gregory Thomas, Toshao, Sawariwau Village; Mr Francisco Gomes, Sand Creek District Development Officer; Mr Hansen Elliot, Project Coordinator; Mr Kit Spencer, Sand Creek Secondary School; Mr Alfred Ramsaran and other local businessmen of the Lethem community and English and Scottish volunteer teachers.
The community has two women’s groups: the Sand Creek Women’s Group and the Kapiwau Southern Culture Group. The Sand Creek group was involved in sewing, sanitation and community group-work, while the Kapiwau group was involved in activities for keeping the community culture alive, such as dancing. Self-help activities, especially in the farmlands, were spearheaded by the women and men  involved in work in the mines or in neighbouring Brazil.  As part of the project, a secondary school has been constructed and is in operation with the services of English and Scottish volunteer teachers.
Ambassador Kopecký expressed satisfaction with the project, noting that the number of graduates was a testament to its success to date. The project is slated to be completed in May, 2014, and is seen as an extension of the efforts of the EU in working with the Amerindian population, including the Wapishana peoples in this particular case. At the same time, Ambassador Kopecký believes that such EU activities are complimentary to and aligned with the governmental efforts. Kopecký also took the opportunity to inspect other EU funded projects in the Lethem area, highlighting his satisfaction that the Lethem Public Library and Resource Centre were in a decent, operational state. However, he opined that the St Ignatius Secondary School Poultry Production Unit could see a higher occupancy of chickens for a higher yield in both educational purposes related to the secondary school activities, and in production of chicken for local market.