BEFORE water tanks became available, creek water was part of daily life for Marcia Thomas, a resident of Smith Creek in Region One. She recalled using it for drinking, bathing and cooking. Her experience raises a practical question: as Guyana continues to develop, what kinds of community investment are needed to address basic needs and support opportunity?
That question offers a useful lens for the Greater Guyana Initiative’s (GGI) Stakeholder Forum, held on October 30. The forum brought implementing entities and other stakeholders together to examine collective impact, share lessons, and strengthen collaboration.
For people following Guyana’s oil and gas development, the discussion matters because it looks beyond funding to how investment can support sustainable development and opportunity in communities. Funded by the Stabroek Block co-venturers ExxonMobil Guyana, Hess and CNOOC, GGI supports initiatives in education, skills development and other areas of community development nationwide.
International guest speaker Zaki Raheem offered a framework for considering how this support can deliver lasting value during the day’s first session, the Impact & Insights Dialogue. Raheem is Senior Director of Programs at Miller Centre for Global Impact. He has more than 20 years of international development experience and has worked in Guyana since 2018. He also helped design and launch AccelerateHer, a Centre for Local Business Development programme that supports women-led businesses through hands-on training.
Under the heading “Building the Capacity for Lasting Impact,” Raheem identified three priorities: investing in partnerships, exploring new business models and making impact credible. Together, these priorities offer a useful way to examine how GGI-supported work is delivered, sustained and assessed.
The first priority, investing in partnerships, can be considered through Project FLOW. By 2030, the initiative aims to equip 141 secondary schools, 10 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, and four special-needs schools with purification systems. Its Region Six expansion involved solar-powered water-purification systems at 19 secondary schools and TVET institutions, where more than 9,600 students and teachers stand to benefit. GGI, Recover Guyana and the Ministry of Education each contribute to the initiative.
The Sustainability Enablers Project provides a complementary example in a different setting. Supported by GGI and implemented with the Guyana Marine Conservation Society, it includes water-storage systems and solar-energy installations in communities. Marcia’s experience in Smith Creek, alongside Imbotero resident Aron Sam’s appreciation for having light, helps explain why those services matter at household level.

These projects address practical needs that shape daily life and the environments in which young people learn. That foundation matters as Guyana expands more specialised educational opportunities. ExxonMobil Guyana’s US$100 million, ten-year commitment to the Guyana STEM Initiative (GSI) supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics through teacher development, STEM centres and other educational activities. GGI’s work on basic needs and GSI’s investment in STEM show how community investment can address the conditions around learning while expanding what students can pursue.
Raheem’s second priority, exploring new business models, raises a further question: how can an initiative remain useful over time? For a water system, lasting usefulness depends on more than installation. Responsibility for operation, maintenance and access to technical support all warrant consideration. Planning for those responsibilities helps an initiative continue serving people after the initial investment.
The third priority, making impact credible, is relevant to how community investment is understood. The number of systems installed or people trained establishes the scale of an activity. Evidence of how systems are used, or how participants apply their training, helps explain what changed.
FLOW’s stated goals also include saving 25 million plastic water bottles by 2030; training more than 1,000 students and teachers in environmental sustainability through environmental clubs; establishing sustainable operational models in 100% of schools by the end of 2029; and reducing plastic waste across schools by 75% by 2030. Tracking progress against these goals can show where the initiative is advancing and where it needs further attention.
Continued learning, documenting what worked, where delivery needed adjustment and how organisations responded can strengthen future work. It also helps distinguish an activity completed from a benefit sustained.
The forum’s focus on impact and insights provides a useful direction for community investment in Guyana. Partnerships can bring resources and expertise together; planning for continued operation can help preserve an initiative’s value; and evidence can show whether its benefits last.
For Marcia, Aron, and the students intended to benefit from FLOW, the value of this work ultimately rests in how reliably it meets people’s needs. GSI points towards further educational opportunities. Keeping both in view helps explain how community investment can improve daily life while supporting people as they pursue what comes next.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.