THE Local Government and Regional Development Ministry and the Federation of Municipalities for Implementation of the CARILED project signed a memorandum of understating yesterday to signify the formal working relationship between Guyana and CARILED. This was done during a press conference in the ministry’s Kingston, Georgetown boardroom.
Speaking at the press briefing, representative of CARILED, Dr. Naresh Singh, said the programme takes a unique approach to development in Caribbean countries; it seeks to foster a relationship, a dynamic interaction between local government and economic development at the local level.
According to Singh, for the first time ever, the Ministry of Local Government has take a step in this direction, which aims at bringing support to realizing small businesses by making them more successful.
“Local Government, I think, for the first time, became actively engaged in promoting small, medium and mirco enterprises in various regions across Guyana,” he pointed out.
He noted that this is a unique approach because, as is known, the ministry has been involved more with maintenance of community roads, collection of rates and taxes, garbage disposal, water and sanitation, among other things.
“The ministry has not, in any significant manner, engaged with working with small businesses at the local level,” he said.
He said this project hinges on the assumption that the Local Government Ministry can work effectively with economic ventures.
While there are challenges that come with this project, the project also takes into account that micro, small and medium-scale businesses often fail because they do not have the traditional back-up and support that are needed to nurture and support them in the early phases.
“There are challenges because businesses traditionally have not turned to local government for this kind of back-up and support,” he stated.
“When we say businesses are succeeding, they create jobs, they create health; and 80-90% of the small businesses fail to transform from an idea into a successful small business.”
He stressed that the main aim of the project is that institutional back-up and support are given to those small businesses. He said this is lacking and is one of the main reasons why failure occurs in this regard.
The project, he said, will therefore seek to develop the capacity of the Local Government & Regional Development Ministry; the Regional Democratic Councils, and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council in ways such as providing necessary information, such as markets for product etc.
“If a small business needs to know where a suitable market for their products can be found, we could help them with that information,” he added.
Meanwhile, Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, David Devine, who also spoke at the signing, said that with a contribution of Cdn $19M from CIDA, the project aims to stimulate sustainable local economic development through the growth of mirco-, small- and medium-size enterprises.
“This will also allow for the strengthening of capacities of local governments in Guyana and other Caribbean countries,” he said.
This he said is important now, as economic growth in the Caribbean has slowed, due to the global financial crisis, National disasters and high food and fuel prices among others.
He said this will work as an initiative which seeks to increasingly better respond to the effects of globalization and the demands for economic restructuring.
He said CARILED will be working in fourteen countries across the region in multiple phases.
“We are heartened to see Guyana has given its commitment to be included in the various phases, which will demonstrate that local and economic development (projects) work and add value,” he emphasized.
The initiative will seek to provide opportunities for small-scale businesses in terms of the provision of loans and other critical areas of their businesses.
Local Government Minister, Ganga Persaud, who also spoke at the press conference, said Guyana is pleased to have been chosen for the implementation of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) programmme aimed at bolstering and supporting the entrepreneurial endeavours within local authority areas.
According to Persaud, the group of personnel from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is currently in Guyana hosting consultations in Regions 2, 3, 4 and 6 with the various community groups and stakeholders.
The technical mission will be engaging small businesses, private sector associations, individual entrepreneurs, and local government entities among others, to share the concepts of the project and to get a sense of the groups’ projects, which can be analyzed for potential funding under the CARILED project.