USAID awards US$58,600 to aid the work of three local Domestic Violence CSOs
[USAID, Georgetown]:  THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID/Guyana), through its Governance Enhancement Project, yesterday awarded grants in the amount of US$58,600 to three Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), to implement domestic violence issue-based activities in Regions 4 (Demerara/Mahaica), 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne and 8 (Potaro/Siparuni).
The recipients are Red Thread, Help and Shelter and the Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre.
Receiving the grants on behalf of their respective organizations were:  Ms. Karen De Souza, National Coordinator of Red Thread; Ms. Josephine Whitehead, Director/Secretary and Danuta Radzik of Help and Shelter; and Ms. Yetrawattee Katryan of the Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre.
Addressing the grantees, at the grant award signing ceremony held at the Georgetown Club on Camp Street, Mrs. Carol Horning, Mission Director of USAID/Guyana, affirmed the commitment of USAID to work with the Government of Guyana and civil society to address domestic violence through programmes focusing on the reduction of domestic violence incidents.
“Domestic Violence”, Ms. Horning said, “stretches beyond the victims and affected families, and strategies to address these heinous acts should be focused on transforming those social norms and structures that are the root causes of domestic violence.”
The grants complement existing GEP community based and other activities to train local officials to deal with domestic violence and domestic violence court protocols.
GEP training programmes assist social workers, local leaders and court personnel to learn how to address specific incidents of domestic violence more effectively and sensitively. An important by-product of these grants will be a better awareness of how this issue affects the community at large, not just the individual victims and their families.
The grant to Red Thread will fund a programme of empowerment in Region 8 for victims of domestic violence and enable them to advocate for change at the community level.
The grant to Help and Shelter will advocate for improved counseling services for victims of violence, strengthening community-based services and provide a broader understanding of the rights of victims of violence in Region 4.
Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre will train local counselors, undertake a community awareness campaign, and establish a men’s empowerment programme to assist them to deal with stress, anger and other contributors to domestic violence caused by men.
The expectation is that the men participating in this programme will be advocates for change in their community over the long term. This Project will be undertaken in Region 6.
Funding announced yesterday is the first phase of the GEP small grants programme.  Additional grants will be made available to Guyanese Civil Society Organizations at a later date.
USAID’s funded project, the Government Enhancement Project (GEP) is implemented by Tetra Tech ARD, a US based development firm. The purpose of the project is to enhance democratic processes and government institutions by promoting citizen inclusion and greater accountability at all levels of governance; facilitating transparent and fair political and electoral processes and encouraging ethnic harmony among citizens.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
To further consolidate democratic governance in Guyana through:
* Rule of Law and Human Rights:  increasing access to justice through increased use of the court connected mediation process and the training of justice sector personnel;
* Good Governance: Improve local Governance Systems through capacity building and citizens’ participation in local government;
* Consensus Building and Political Processes:  foster interaction among major stakeholders, including political parties on issues of national importance and acceptable and acceptable electoral processes; and
* Civil Society: increasing the involvement of civil society in decision making processes.

At Thursday’s handing over ceremony, Mr. Dickinson Bailey, Chief-of-Party of GEP, introduced Mission Director of USAID/Guyana, Ms. Carol Horning as well as delivered the Welcome and Introduction of the event and participants.

Meanwhile, Ms. Yetrawattie Katryan expressed gratitude to the donors on behalf of the three organizations.