-as stakeholder process commences

THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) will be working along with the Small Business Bureau to implement a Sustainable Communities Fund.

The fund will provide support to the corporation’s Sustainable and Resilient Communities Programme .
This was announced during a stakeholder engagement forum on Thursday morning in which the corporation plans to ensure the programme benefits all, even as the entity continues its re-organisation process.

The forum saw participation from the Small Business Bureau, the Ministry of Social Protection and other agency staff at the corporation’s head office at La Bonne Intention (LBI).

The corporation’s Chief Executive Officer (acting), Paul Bhim, noted in a statement which was read by the entity’s Communications Manager and Facilitator, Audreyanna Thomas that the firm has partnered with several public and private sector agencies to implement the programme, as he cited the need for wider involvement of the relevant agencies.

Some 4,700 persons were made redundant by the entity following the closure of several sugar estates and Bhim said that the partnerships thus far have seen personnel from GuySuCo being trained by the Ministry of Public Health in substance abuse and alcohol abuse control as well as mental health gap programmes.”This is particularly necessary, since a large percentage of the effected persons are males,” he said.

He said that one of the challenges the entity has faced regarding the implementation of the sustainable and resilient communities programme is to find the best “fit” in order for it to be implemented effectively and for the affected persons to receive the best possible support.

Bhim said that while the corporation’s reorganization process has created a challenge at various levels, it also presents “an excellent opportunity” to rethink community development and to add more sustainability thinking into how one manages and sustains one’s industries.

He said if the programme is implemented properly, it will present a framework for transitioning communities.

GuySuCo is projecting a turnaround in its fortunes by year two of its soon-to-be unveiled three-year capital investment plan, which will guide the utilisation of the $30B syndicated bond, Chairman and Head of the Special Purpose Unit (SPU), Colvin Heath-London disclosed recently.

Heath-London said GuySuCo is in the process of concretising the plan which is intended to revitalise the sugar industry. “We are working rapidly as a team to put forward our suggestions, which will be raised at the Ministry of Agriculture and the government level and Cabinet level, and basically we will ask for approval to move forward,” he told this newspaper.

As it formalises its plan, GuySuCo will meet shortly with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), one of the key stakeholders in the sugar industry, for its input.