IN its effort to provide much needed support to youths across Guyana, Youth Challenge Guyana (YCG), a non-government organisation, says they are open to collaborating with government agencies to foster opportunities for youth empowerment and growth.

YCG has given tremendous support to young people in communities across Region Four, through collaboration with agencies like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Youth Allies programme, where they were able to execute community action initiatives.

Executive Director of Youth Challenge Guyana, Dimitri Nicholson, in a brief interview with the Guyana Chronicle, recently explained that the community action initiative was small grants given to young people in Enmore, Laing Avenue, North East La Penitence, among other communities, to execute projects that would help to enhance their communities and bring people together.

Stepping out of Georgetown, through partnerships with United Nations (UN) Women, and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the organisation was able to work with young people and children in Baramita, Region One, to improve their life skills and awareness of substance abuse.

Nicholson noted that UNICEF and UN Women are great partners in the journey to empowering the youth, and said that if resources allow, they will continue to maintain partnership with both organisations.

He subsequently said the YCG is willing to collaborate with government organisations/ agencies to strengthen their efforts to support youth-related activities.

Nicholson said: “Our approach to work with life skills is primarily to ensure that young people have the skills to avoid behaviours that would cause challenges for their future.”
This year, the organisation aims to continue providing young people with unwavering support while also steering them in directions that will positively impact their lives. Community work and providing invaluable skills training, with emphasis on training for young men to enhance their problem solving and communication skills, are components of the plan.

The local branch of Youth Challenge International came into being in 1991 and has since provided services to the Guyanese community especially in the remote regions where services were scarce in the areas of health, education and infrastructure.

Thus far, Youth Challenge Guyana has touched the lives of youths in Regions One, Three, Four, Seven, Eight and Nine and plans are afoot to expand the reach.

For more information on the organisation’s work, persons can visit the Youth Challenge Guyana Facebook page or call 223-7885.