By Naomi Marshall

THE Linden Mayor and Town Council (M&TC has said it intends to pay keener interest in getting young people involved in development, when it hosted a workshop on Friday, geared at improving youth involvement in local governance.
The workshop was declared open by Mayor, Carwyn Holland, who proposed the formation of a majoring youth council in all municipalities to build leadership skills and civic engagement opportunities for youths.
“The way this will work is, we will have the mayor youth councils in all the municipalities and they will have an entire Municipal Council by themselves, where they will have various committees and a member or two that will be seconded to the municipality and the regional authority so that they can be a part of the different committees, social, health, etc,” Holland said.

An agreement between the CDB and the Bank of Guyana (BoG) addresses a number of development areas, including local government and which has been among included in the discussion for the past two days.
And, tasked with the responsibility for taking forward a country strategy programme for the next five years is Mr Damion Reese, Country Economist for Guyana at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
According to him, “What we try to do is focus on areas where we think we are best placed to, we are interested in ensuring what we do is complimentary to what other partners may be doing. The strategy focuses on areas such as infrastructure where we are hoping the UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund can fund some of the work that is coming out of Linden and heading into the interior,” stated Reese.

The infrastructure project will involve community consultations with various stakeholders who would be affected and those who would benefit. In addition, Reese is hoping that the youths will have a chance to share their views and opinions on the developmental outcomes that can follow from the project.
“The outcome of this is, we hope to design some kind of technical assistance programme which will help address local government in Guyana,” Reese added.
Some of the objectives of the youth in governance programme includes, creating an environment that is conducive to the positive development of youths and youth engagement, and provide youths with skills, knowledge and experience that would prepare them to be effective partners for a positive change in the towns.
Linden’s Deputy Mayor, Waneka Arrindell posited that the municipality is very focused on developing the youths of the town and is grateful for the initiative.
“If you want something and it is right in front of you, use the best of it,” she told the gathering.
The seminar was attended by stakeholders, Linden group leaders and members of the Linden Town Council.