aims to create safer communities, empower at-risk youths

THE Youth Resilience, Inclusion and Empowerment (Y-RIE) programme, a five-year project funded by the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), was on Tuesday launched by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the Marriott Hotel.

The Y-RIE is a youth-centred, systems-strengthening initiative that employs a public health approach to violence prevention. It supports effective youth development techniques and focuses on at-risk individuals between the ages of 10 and 29 years.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy in Guyana, Adrienne Galanek, in her remarks at the launch, said that the programme grew out of months of conversations between USAID and Guyanese, as they collectively sought to learn from previous programmes and devised strategies to improve their work with youths.

“In the development of Y-RIE, we have spoken with stakeholders across the country to identify a number of issues impacting young people. We have heard the challenges some youths face as they mature into adults,” Galanek said.

She said that they discussed how young people are influenced by peers as well as the way that it impacts youths’ involvement in disruptive groups, and related that USAID is working with partners to address these challenges by actively engaging with the youth population, their families, and communities.

“USAID will partner with the government to improve social services provided to youths who are at a higher risk of involvement in crime and violence and in doing so, will prioritise psychosocial support,” Galanek related.

Additionally, she said through Y-RIE, they will also work with families and residents in communities to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for youths, and their access to employment which will help to create safer, more resilient communities.

This programme comes at an opportune time when Guyana is at crossroads in its developmental path, and, according to Galanek, Y-RIE is designed to answer the clear calls of youths to be heard, valued, and guided as they strive to achieve their dreams.

According to the United Nations population estimates, more than half of Guyana’s population is under the age of 35 years, and while most children attend primary school, learning outcomes are uneven, and many adolescents do not finish secondary school.

Galanek said that Y-RIE seeks to help youths discover and uncover their talents, and use their passions and skills to advance their ambitions and goals.

“Young people are an integral and essential part of not only the current transformation of this incredibly dynamic country, but they are indeed the future of Guyana,” she said.

Galanek said that Y-RIE will be effective, only in collaboration with the government, the justice and security sectors, communities, families, and most importantly, the young people themselves.

“Through collaborative partnerships, we can empower youth, build safer communities and promote a more secure, resilient and prosperous Guyana and Caribbean region,” she said.

Further, the Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, related that the government is enthusiastic to partner with USAID and to be one of the countries in the Caribbean, including Grenada, and St. Lucia to be part of a programme that supplements many of Guyana’s programmes and many of the broader strategic interventions.

“The government is deeply committed to the young people of this country and we have collectively spared no effort in developing programmes in ensuring that there are policies… and even looking at the legislative arm, ensuring that there are strong pieces of legislation that protect young people in this country,” Minister Persaud said.

She further highlighted that while the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security (MHSSS) has an overarching responsibility for young people, this duty is also shared by the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health; this shows the cross-cutting nature of what it takes to raise a child and to keep that child safe.

“We are all committed to a process where young people will be given an opportunity in every sense of the word and also through strategies that counter any escalation of violence and crime,” Dr. Persaud related.

She said that she does not doubt that the Y-RIE programme will strengthen what they are trying to do as a government.

The first set of all of the programmes that will be rolled out, will focus on the MHSSS.

The officers who are responsible for juveniles will be trained to deal with and recognise trauma, and also receive shock responsiveness training.

They will also be taught how to engage better with young people to prevent and intervene in cases where youths are at risk of getting into a life of crime and violence, and also those who are already in a life of crime, to get them out of it and integrated into society.

“I have no doubt that with the level of training that will be provided to our senior officers and to officers in several regions, we will be able to achieve what is our common goal, to ensure that these youth have multiple opportunities, along with their families where there can be stability within the family construct, which by extension will impact on the wider community,” the Human Services Minister related.