THE Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), on Wednesday, launched its “Enhancement of Child Care and Early Learning Facilities and Development Services Grant”, as part of efforts to foster an environment of excellence and create safe spaces for its children.

According to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, this grant was launched during the “International Day of Play- Play with a Purpose” event, held at Unique’s Daycare, Pre-school and Nursery School at La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara.

Delivering the feature address at the launch, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, stressed the importance of equally investing in childcare facilities and human resources. With this in mind, the grant was implemented through the CPA to support privately owned daycare facilities to become centres of excellence.

“Today, I proudly announce that we will be launching a Childcare and Development Grant, which will be given to 10 care centres in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and 10,” the Minister disclosed.

Minister Persaud stated further that, “Each care centre will receive $200,000 towards making their centres not only achieve minimum standards but to become centres of excellence.”

She added, “This support does not only stop there, but these centres will also continue to be nurtured and guided by the CPA team. We will continue to do this until every centre in this country is at that stage of excellence. This includes both the physical appearance of the centres and their human resources,” Minister Persaud assured.

Moreover, the grant will continue to be distributed annually to facilities that meet the requirements. This transformative financial support underscores the Government of Guyana’s commitment to fostering children’s holistic development and ensures that they are rightfully cared for.

It falls under the mandate of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s CPA to keep “Every Child Safe.”

Earlier this year, in his speech during the presentation of the 2025 National Budget, Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh, indicated that since August 2020, the Government has updated the Adoption of Children (Amendment) Act 2021 to address intercountry adoption and the Family Violence Act 2024 for the protection of victims of domestic violence including children; completed an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Policy in 2023 which provides a national integrated framework for improved ECD services and structured guidelines for caregivers and ECD centre staff working with children from birth to three years of age, and completed the construction of two early childhood and development centres at Rose Hall and Bartica, and an early childhood centre of excellence at the University of Guyana.

In 2024, construction also commenced on another ECD centre at Diamond which is expected to be completed in 2025; construction of one day and night care centre at Anna Catherina was completed in 2024 and in 2025 another is set to be completed at Providence.

Further, more than 3,800 persons were trained to provide childcare services countrywide. Of this, 50 persons were provided with grants of $100,000 each to start or expand their facilities. Another 4,000 are set to be trained this year, while 50 additional persons will be provided with grants to open or expand their facilities.

A sum of $1.3 billion was budgeted in 2025 to continue initiatives to support the care and protection of our children.