IT is ironic that as the world supposedly becomes more educated and modernised it is becoming more fragmented both at the macro and micro levels. At the former, we have witnessed the fragmentation of many countries and societies, while with the latter the family unit is under severe threat-one factor contributing significantly to the emergence of an increasing number of single parents which is having a cyclical adverse effect on society.
Of course while the breaking up of the family unit is a major factor there also others including wars, death of a parent etc. Single parents result from choice or circumstance.
The ideal situation would have been one in which there are no single parents, but the reality is inevitably there will always be such parents. However, every society should strive towards ensuring that single parents are kept to the bare minimum because it is the children who suffer most under these circumstances and in the long run society suffers because it is these children who become adults and therefore the future is entrusted in their hands.
What is interesting about the single-parent issue is that it is a common phenomenon in both the developing and developed world and most single parents are women.
There are an estimated 13.7 million single parents in the United States today. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2009 report, single parents are responsible for raising 26 percent of children who are under the age of 21 in the United States.
An article by Phillip Inman in the Guardian September 10, 2005: “Plight of single parents worsens” reported: “Government ministers came under attack this week for failing to safeguard the incomes of single parents after figures revealed the Child Support Agency is overwhelmed with cases of absent parents refusing to pay maintenance.
A huge backlog of cases has resulted in more than £1bn of maintenance being written off, according to figures obtained by former welfare reform minister Frank Field. The agency said in its annual report that maintenance worth £1.26bn was “probably uncollectable”, a decision that leaves at least another £1bn to collect.
A probe by the Liberal Democrats also revealed a decline in the number of CSA staff in the last two years has resulted in only 3% of frontline staff enforcing decisions. The pitifully small number of employees tackling hardcore refuseniks, usually absent fathers, has fallen to 271 out of a staff total of 9,750. This situation persists even though in more than a quarter of cases, the absent parent is resisting the agency’s decision on how much money they should pay towards the upkeep of their children.”
This is very revealing and gives a fairly accurate picture of the financial woes of single parents across the globe.
It therefore means that governments along with the private sector have to find innovative ways of addressing the plight of single parents.
In the case of our country, this initiative has already been undertaken and single parents are currently benefiting from it.
The programme entitled Women of Worth (WOW) launched over a year ago by President Bharrat Jagdeo lauded the Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI) which stepped up with $500 million available for loans to single mothers, between 18 and 60, earning less than $40,000 per month, and whose names are on the Single Parent Register at the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.
Once they qualify, they are able to borrow up to $250,000 for a series of small business ventures, and in most cases they will have a three-month moratorium on repayment and will have 24 months to repay at a rate of six percent.
The government put $50 million towards helping with the supporting mechanism for the programme which has come in for commendation by the Executive Secretary for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena, describing the Government of Guyana’s Women of Worth (WOW) programme as a laudable model and said the region as a whole should follow suit. The ECLAC official, who was in Trinidad and Tobago for the Caribbean Development Round Table on Tuesday, organised by ECLAC in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago, made the comment subsequent to the Round Table.
Ms. Barcena is perhaps right and it would be hoped that her exhortation will be a stimulus  for other similar private/public sectors ventures to bring further assistance to single parents in dire need.