At Westminster commissioning…
MANY communities across the country are beneficiaries of the Low Income Housing Programme (EU/LIHP) which is a joint venture between the Government of Guyana and the European Union started in 2004. It is aimed at improving access to affordable housing for low income groups, through not only the construction and upgrading of new and existing infrastructure, but by encouraging community participation in project implementation and supporting the initiatives.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Central Planning and Housing Authority (CH&PA), Ms. Myrna Pitt said it has resulted in the improvement of the lives of scores involved.
“Through the EU grant, which was given to us to implement these programmes, tremendous benefits have been witnessed and many successes were recorded,” she reported.
Pitt made the disclosure while addressing residents during the commissioning ceremony of the Multi-Purpose Community Centre at Westminster, West Bank Demerara, on Monday.
She said the EU/LIHP was implemented in several housing areas, namely Sophia ‘D’, Cummings Lodge ‘C’ and ‘Y’, Glasgow, East Bank Berbice, Onderneeming, West Coast Berbice and Westminster and Bell West, West Bank Demerara.
Alluding to the scope of the scheme, Pitt said the overall objective is to encourage community-based initiatives and micro projects to facilitate job creation and small scale income generation aimed at creating a better living environment, improved safety conditions and long term maintenance responsive to community needs.
“This was a very critical aspect of the programme, which has been very successful and which is considered one of the softer components when we look at the infrastructure development works being the harder component,” she explained.

Self-help building
In addition, Pitt said homeowners in the targeted communities were trained in self-help building of sanitary facilities and houses as well as sustainable programmes for maintenance and incremental improvement of physical infrastructure and environmental services.
“These programmes were developed and instituted with community participation and the involvement of the local authorities and the training modules were designed and utilised for all of the subject areas that were recommended after a needs assessment was undertaken,” she informed.
About the training, Pitt said 132 participants underwent eight weeks of instructions in a variety of subject areas, including kitchen gardening, catering, housekeeping, craft, needlework, food processing, masonry, carpentry, joinery and small business management and development .
Of that number, three are, currently, pursuing higher levels of education at respective training institutions countrywide, 13 have been employed as a direct result of their participation in the programme and two small entrepreneurs have reported improved efficiency in their management practices.
Others reported successes include the fact that 70 participants of the skills training programme in self-esteem building session saw marked changes in their perception as leaders in their own development, 10 are currently employed at various entities in Georgetown and Berbice as a direct result of the income generation workshops and three are presently in negotiations with the Institute for Private Enterprise Development (IPED) for small business loans.
Added to this, 68 community members, including some leaders who participated in workshops that addressed social issues and 22 community leaders received training in leadership education, proposal writing included.
“You can see the interventions of this programme which has had quite an impact on community based organisations and these are just some of the benefits of the EU grant that was given to us,” Pitt stated.