…Min Ally details work in delivery of social services

The A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government has been making steady progress in addressing the needs of Guyanese, particularly the underprivileged and those who ever so often are faced with difficulties. This is according to the Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally.
Chronicling her work as a Minister of Government, Ally said the Ministry through the Childcare and Protection Agency (CCPA) has been initiating a number of projects and programmes to ensure abused, abandoned and neglected children receive the best possible care under her watch. As such, the Ministry has been boosting the capacity of agencies such as CCPA, through institutional strengthening.
She said currently, the Social Protection Ministry is moving ahead with plans to construct a new Drop in Centre at Sophia to properly cater for vulnerable children. Through her intervention, the Ministry has managed to secure the two acres of land for the construction of the modern facility that will accommodate vulnerable children and three families.
“I visited the Mahaica Children’s Centre and it looks really good. I would like to see a Drop in Centre where you have proper dining rooms, proper sleeping facilities, proper kitchen area, sport facilities; they must have opportunities of having this good life,” said an optimistic Ally.
It was noted that once the funding is approved, the Drop-in-Centre can be up and running by 2018. In July 2016, the Drop-in Centre at Hadfield Street, was destroyed by a fire which claimed the lives of brothers; six year old Joshua George and two year old Antonio George. The preliminary report on the fire found that the centre had systematic problems and bad policy arrangements for fire. The children from that centre were relocated to other facilities.

Safety of centres
According to Minister Ally, frequent checks are being conducted to ensure that Drop-in-Centres and children’s homes are safe and up to standard. Additionally, caregivers are constantly being trained to deliver the best quality of care. “We are taking corrective actions to ensure that those who are not in line get in line,” Minister Ally stated.
Meanwhile, in the area of combating domestic violence, the Social Protection Ministry, under the stewardship of Minister Ally, has launched a Temporary Assistance Programme for Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors. The programme falls under the remit of the Ministry’s Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Policy Unit. The programme is designed to provide financial assistance and temporary accommodation to families affected by sexual and domestic violence.
Additionally, Minister Ally pointed out that the Ministry has resuscitated the National Task Force for the Prevention of Sexual Violence. “We have finalised the first set of protocols for medical practitioners,” she noted, while explaining that the protocol will act as a guide for medical practitioners when dealing with victims of domestic violence.
In addition to executing training programmes, awareness campaigns and reinitiating much needed policies and programmes, the Social Protection Minister said more centres for victims of domestic violence will be constructed in Guyana.

Large scale farming
Across at the Hugo Chavez Centre, the Ministry is engaging in large scale crops and poultry farming with the aim of subsizing the centre, and other facilities such as the Drop-in-Centres and Palms. “So we have been able to dig three fish ponds, and we going to get out fingerlings. We are presently constructing three pens, one for ducks, one for creole fowls, and one for sheep. We are also doing a chicken pen as well as a green house,” she disclosed.

Fighting TIP
In addition to those services, the Counter-Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP) Unit continues to rescue victims with the help of the Guyana Police Force while raising awareness on the issue. The Sustainable Livelihood Development or SLED initiative also falls within the purview of the Ministry, however, according to the Minister, applicants for 2017 have not met the requirement.
An applicant is required to have a project plan, must be registered with a coop, friendly society or Non-Governmental Organization and a bank account with authorized signatures. Old Age Pension Scheme and the Difficult Circumstances Unit are also integral parts of the Ministry.
But outside of Social Protection, Minister Ally has made her mark at the Social Cohesion Department which falls under the Ministry of the Presidency. Ally was appointed as the first Minister of Social Cohesion when the APNU+AFC Government came into office. Before handing over that Ministry to Minister George Norton, Minister Ally said she had gone to the far reaches of Guyana, and even to urban communities to have a greater understanding of the racial issues facing the country.
Those visits, she said confirmed that Guyanese have been divided along ethnic lines–a division she said driven by some politicians and evident during elections.
“Many of the ordinary people who live down there, they live together, they work together but the influence of political leaders has caused this infraction in our community,” she posited.
Minister Ally added that “in many bottom house meetings, people are taught to be divided and so when they are taught to be divided you find that it is reflected in various ways in the country.”
Additionally, she said there was a great disparity in the way projects and programmes were executed across the country. “In the case of infrastructure work, you would find that only certain communities could have had such facilities, good roads, pitch roads, electrical lights and these things. You found that poverty took the better half of our people, particularly our children,” she explained.

Five B’s
To bridge the gap, Minister Ally said Government under her watch initiated the Five B’s Programme, providing Buses, Boats, Bicycles, Books and Breakfast to children across the country.
To date, 19 buses, nine boats and hundreds of bicycles have been handed over to communities and children in nine of the 10 Administrative regions. Additionally, the Ministry has been working closely the Inter-Religious Organisation to break down the barriers. “We have been bringing the religious leaders together so that people can understand that those differences are not barriers,” she posited.
Ally said she is pleased with the foundation she laid at the Social Cohesion Department and is confident that her successor will fulfill its objectives to make Guyana a cohesive and united country.