NO country can advance without a strong cadre of young professionals. The term ‘young professionals’ refers to individuals in their twenties and thirties who would have successfully completed a period of advanced training in academia or in a technical/ vocational area. These are, in the main, white collar employees who are usually in demand because of the unique skills and competencies they possess.

A major challenge faced by most countries, especially those in the developing world, is how to keep their professionals at home. We have had over the decades more than our fair share of ‘brain drain’, especially with respect to teachers and nurses. There was a time when our trained teachers were lured to offer their services in other Caribbean countries upon completion of their contractual obligations. Because of the wide disparity in income levels, many of them opted to pay off their contacts. The ‘greener grass’ syndrome had a debilitating effect especially during the late 1970s and lasted right up to the early 1990s. The then PNC regime was unable to stem the flow of professionals out of the country due to starvation wages, nepotism and political and racial discrimination.

Thankfully, the exodus of teachers and other professionals slowed down significantly with the assumption to office of the PPP/C on October 5, 1992. One of the first steps taken by the new administration was to increase the emoluments of our professionals and public servants as a whole. One consequence of such salary increases was a marked decline in attrition rates in the teaching and nursing professions.

This is not to suggest that the ‘brain drain’ has been completely sealed. We continue to lose our professionals in critical areas of development such as nursing and engineering, even though the extent of the losses are not as pronounced today as was the case under the Burnham era.

We have to find ways to keep our professionals in Guyana even as the ‘pull’ factor remains high. This is all the more imperative given the emergence of the new oil and gas sector. This requires a new skills set which is not readily and easily available. We have to find ways not only to attract such skills but even more importantly, to keep them.

One such incentive is the housing programme for young professionals initiated by the PPP/C administration.  According to Minister of Housing and Water, Colin Croal, a total of 300 homes will be constructed for young professionals at Plantation Little/Great Diamond, Plantation Prospect and Plantation Providence on the East Bank of Demerara. This is in addition to the several homes already built by young professionals, thanks to highly subsidised house lots allocated to them by government.

And in keeping with a manifesto promise by the PPP/C to allocate 50,000 house lots during its term in office, the Ogle to Diamond road link and the adjoining communities are being considered for professionals and other low-income earners. This is according to President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who reaffirmed his government’s robust housing programme.

The fact is that housing was always high on the PPP/C Government’s development agenda and moreso for President Ali, who once held the housing portfolio. During that period, the housing drive was given a further boost to a point where Guyana was regarded as a model country in the Caribbean in terms of housing.

The housing programme for young professionals is not limited to Georgetown and its environs. Only recently, the construction of 40 young professionals’ homes commenced in Linden, Region 10. This is part of a much larger housing programme in Amelia’s Ward, Linden where some 1,000 homes are earmarked for construction.

The PPP/C Government’s programme for young professionals and young people as a whole is nothing short of remarkable. And this despite the huge backlog in satisfying the needs of housing applicants it inherited from the previous APNU+AFC Coalition Government which saw a deceleration in the housing programme. The challenge now is to correct the deficiencies of the past administration and to mobilise the required resources to fast-track the housing drive.

Indications so far are that the target set by the government is achievable. The dream of a roof over the heads of Guyanese is gradually becoming a reality.