By Clifford Stanley

FIRST Lady Sandra Granger on Sunday handed over letters to leaders of seven Community Development Councils (CDCs) and two women’s groups in West Coast Berbice, which informed them that their applications for grants for community development projects had been successful.The presentations to leaders of the West Berbice groupings were done in the auditorium of the Latchmansingh Primary School, Bush Lot Village, West Coast Berbice.

Officials of the Ministry of Communities (MoC) disclosed that the grants from Central Government to West Berbician groupings through theMinistry totalled over $12 million and ranged in size from $3 million to $1 million for each of the nine groups, which had obtained funding for their projects.

The beneficiaries comprised  members of the Experiment Block D Bath Settlement Village  Women’s Group,  the Bel Air-Woodlands Villages Civil Defence Commission (CDC) , the Golden Grove Lovely Lass  Villages CDC , the  Seafield  Village CDC, the Mon EdderLust  Villages CDC, the  Golden Grove Union Cash Crop farmers Association; the Belladrum Village  CDC, the Bush Lot/Armadale Women’s Group; and the Trafalgar Women on the Move CDC.

The projects which received this grant funding ranged from poultry rearing, to shade house farming and agro-processing activities.

Before handing over the letters of confirmation, the First Lady said that the projects which were approved for funding will help to create wealth in the communities so that they can become better and stronger.

She urged the beneficiaries to be very transparent in their activities so as to encourage greater participation in their respective villages.

Donald Ainsworth, Assistant Director of the CDC Secretariat within the MoC, said that the grants were a token of the seriousness that the Coalition Government takes in advancing positive changes to the economic social and psychological well-being of communities.

“In West Coast Berbice, we want to see more factories, more industries. These grants to CDCs in this area make that a possibility. They are the foundation for greater things to come.”

Ainsworth  urged the beneficiaries to ensure that their projects are successful  since this would  not only set an example for other CDCs and other women’s groups  in other parts of Guyana to follow , but also qualify them for larger funding for future developmental activities.

Officials disclosed that the funds will not be handed over to the various groups directly, but each will have to set up a bank account to which the funds will be channelled.

Leaders of the  groups will also have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the MoC  which will address their rights and responsibilities, as well as the expectations of the Ministry, as they go about executing the projects for which the grant aid were approved.

The execution of the projects will be closely monitored by the CDC Secretariat of the MOC.