THE new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative for Guyana and Suriname, Ms. Marianne Flach, yesterday officially presented her letters of credence to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett. Flach is succeeding Dr. Sulieman Braimoh, whose assignment in Guyana concluded earlier this month.

Speaking to the media after the accreditation ceremony at the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s, Takuba Lodge, Rodrigues saluted the work of UNICEF in Guyana.
“We have been very pleased with the work that UNICEF has done. [There’s] hardly anyone that can quarrel with the work of UNICEF. It’s with children, it’s with women, it’s with the vulnerable,” she remarked, asserting, “A country is judged by the way it treats its children and it’s most vulnerable.”
The country’s top diplomat also acknowledged Flach’s wealth of experience, saying that it would redound to the benefit of the people of Guyana. According to a bio supplied by UNICEF, Flach, a Netherlands national, has over 20 years of experience in rural development, with more than 12 years in management positions, in both Africa and Asia, in the area of food security, nutrition, health, water and sanitation.
Prior to joining UNICEF, Ms. Flach was Deputy Regional Director for Helen Keller International, an NGO founded to combat the cause and consequences of blindness in the West Africa region as well in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Flach told reporters yesterday, that, as with the wider UNICEF, which has over the last few years been focusing on the most vulnerable children worldwide, she too will place emphasis on these in children in Guyana. She pointed out that while activity has been concentrated on addressing the needs of disadvantaged youth in the hinterland, she will also work towards improving the welfare of underprivileged children in the urban areas.
The UNICEF representative indicated that another area of focus for her organisation is health, and that she will be working alongside the government to address health-related issues. She acknowledged strides made in the area of health, remarking: “I am pleased to see that…the country has made a lot of progress with reduction of child mortality.”
Flach revealed that UNICEF’s focus here is now on neo-natal mortality – when infants die before the age of one month – and maternal mortality. Neo-natal mortality and maternal mortality, she explained, “go together.” Meanwhile, she gave Guyana plaudits for cutting the rate of transmission of HIV from mother to child, but opined that the country “can still improve a bit.”
Flach, who prior to being assigned to the Guyana-Suriname office had served as UNICEF Representative in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), also touched on education in her interaction with local media operatives. While lauding the fact that Guyana has attained universal primary education, she observed that there are concerns in some areas about the “matter of quality of education.” She indicated, too, that UNICEF would be working with the government in providing universal access to secondary education.
Flach highlighted UNICEF’s emphasis on child protection. She mentioned corporal punishment, trafficking of children and sexual violence as priority areas of action. She also dwelt on the dispensation of juvenile justice, saying that there was a need for clearly developed procedures as to how the judiciary and law enforcement deal with juvenile cases.
“We would very much like to see that the children see the policemen as friends,” she expressed.
Under the 2012 – 2016 Country Programme, UNICEF is working with the Government of Guyana to develop capacities for results based planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of equity and gender-sensitive policies, legislation and programmes for children and women. This support, UNICEF says, is organised around Guyana’s established national priorities for human and social development.