THE first two modules of the training component of the Youth Empowerment and Inclusion and Reconciliation Project (YEIRP) have been successfully completed, and training on the third module will commence shortly.

In a telephone interview with this publication, Project Assistant Seloge Andrea Narine said the project is moving apace with positive energy. She disclosed that the two modules completed are ‘Key Governance and Understanding’ and ‘Key Governance and Transformative Leadership’, and that the next module to be looked at is ‘Advocacy and Participation in Policy and Project Management’.
The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are co-sponsors of this project, which selected for training 30 youth leaders from six regions in Guyana — being Regions 2 (Pomeroon/ Supenaam), 3 (Essequibo Islands/ West Demerara), 4 (Demerara/ Mahaica), 5 (Mahaica/Berbice), 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) — to play a role in developing their respective communities and country. Training began on February 8 of this year.
The YEIRP is aimed at addressing the challenges of inadequate youth participation in local governance by providing training to develop the youths’ capacity to become protagonists for good social and governance practices, and to participate in local governance.
Former Project Coordinator Vickram Bharat had asserted at commencement of the exercise that training would continue until May, after which participants would be placed in selected local government entities and be tasked with carrying out a community project “that is supposed to enhance the lives of people living within the community, especially the youths.”
Narine told this publication that there has not been a project coordinator since Bharat demitted office, and the Local Government Ministry is in process of recruiting an individual for that position.
The project, which will last until March 31, 2014, involves monitoring community projects that will be carried out by the 30 participants in their respective regions.