–with outreaches to hinterland communities

THE Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) recently intensified its efforts to decentralise services and engage stakeholders in hinterland communities, conducting outreach visits to Mahdia in Region Eight, and Bartica in Region Seven during March 26–29 and April 2–4, respectively.

According to a press release, these visits are a critical component of GNBS’s annual work programme as the bureau strives to extend its services beyond the coastland, ensuring equitable access to standardisation and metrology services across Guyana.

The visiting team, led by GNBS Executive Director Trevor Bassoo, included heads of the legal metrology, product compliance, corporate communications, and business development departments.

Their mission was multifaceted: engaging regional stakeholders such as local administrators, business owners, and consumers to better understand their needs while providing direct support to GNBS sub-offices in these regions.

Over the past five years, GNBS has significantly expanded its presence with support from the Government of Guyana, establishing Sub-Offices in Regions One, Three, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight.
This expansion has brought the total number of sub-offices nationwide to ten, greatly enhancing businesses’ and consumers’ access to reliable measurement services and product monitoring. During the recent visits, stakeholders expressed appreciation for GNBS’s efforts while highlighting areas for improvement.

Concerns raised included the need for new National Standards, training in food safety protocols, reliable access to measuring instruments, and education on product monitoring requirements. GNBS is currently developing an action plan to address these needs.

In addition to stakeholder meetings with Regional Executive Officers, Mayors, business representatives, and residents, the GNBS team inspected several businesses in Mahdia and Bartica.
These inspections targeted cellphone dealers, furniture stores, electrical equipment vendors, tyre dealers, and gas stations to assess their compliance with GNBS standards. While most businesses were found to be using verified measuring instruments and offering quality products for sale, a few were non-compliant.

GNBS educated these operators on regulatory requirements and emphasized the importance of sourcing quality items for retail.
The outreach also extended to schools in both communities. Lecture sessions were held at Bartica Secondary School, Three Miles Secondary School, Mahdia Secondary School, and Mahdia Primary School. A total of 137 students and teachers participated in these sessions aimed at raising awareness about the functions of GNBS, the importance of standards in daily life, careers in standardisation and metrology, and the use of metric units of measurement.

Looking ahead, GNBS plans to conduct similar outreach visits to other outlying regions such as Regions One and Nine before mid-year.