TWENTY-NINE young people between the ages of 10 and 19 from the West Demerara area last Saturday graduated from a six-month programme with skills in the areas of hydroponics and natural vegetable gardening in containers.

 The programme was organised and jointly executed by the Partners of the Americas (Guyana Chapter) and Caribbean Self-Reliance International (CASRI).
The participants were children comprising nine females and twenty males from Stanleytown and Vive-la-Force communities on the West Bank Demerara, Region 3 (Essequibo/West Demerara).
Winners of an end of programme competition were given shade-houses so that they can continue to develop and expand on the skills acquired.

Mr. Kelvin Craig, Project Manager (POA) disclosed that the programme had been executed under the Sustainable Livelihoods and Community Economic Growth through Hydroponic and Organic Vegetable Production and Marketing Project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank / Japanese Trust Fund.
The programme commenced in December 2014 and aimed at empowering children of those communities in the areas of hydroponic and natural vegetable gardening in containers.
For the training they were exposed to site selection, container selection, substrate preparation, planting, caring, fertilizing and harvesting crops such as lettuce, celery and pakchoy.
They participated in a farm tour on January 10th 2015 in Regions 3 and 4 (Demerara/Mahaica) where they visited existing shade-houses on the West Bank Demerara and in Georgetown and had the opportunity to interact with shade-house producers and to ask relevant questions.

Of the twenty-nine participants, twenty-five were honoured with certificates of participation at the closing ceremony at the Goed Intent Community Centre, West Bank Demerara on Saturday last.
POA disclosed that the immediate benefits to the respective families and communities included improved nutrition, food security and self-esteem as well as long-term future benefits.
With respect to the end of course competition, the first and second place winners from each community were awarded shade-houses as prizes.
Joel Caldeira and Shanequa Boyce were first and second place winners respectively for Stanleytown while Jude Mars and Nafeesa Hosein were first and second place winners for the participants of Vive-la-Force.
POA disclosed that both first place winners will receive a 20×8 ft. shade-house and both second place winners a 10×8 ft. shade-house.
The children were told that they were all winners in terms of the skills they had learnt.

Partners of the Americas is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan organisation with international offices in Washington, D.C
The local chapter in Guyana, linked with Mississippi, works on projects in diverse areas, including health, climate change and environmental protection, agriculture, women and gender equality and education.
Caribbean Self-Reliance International is a Canada-based international development organisation which  was founded in 1999 and began work in Guyana in 2003.
The core of CASRI’s work is the nurturing and development of community and local government leadership for community capacity building and transformation.
In doing so, CASRI ensures the involvement of the younger generation, their families and the communities where they learn, work and live.
By Clifford Stanley