THE Ministry of Labour and the International Labour Organisation will today open a two-day conference to discuss the concept of ‘Green Jobs’ and to provide all stakeholder with information on the opportunities for job creation and challenges with dealing with green jobs in the Low Carbon Development Strategy.
The conference will be held at Regency Suites from 9:00 hrs. Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir is slated to deliver the opening address.
The working sessions will be led by two ILO specialists: Ms. Ana Sanchez, Climate Change Specialist, ILO’s Employment Sector, Geneva, Switzerland; and Dr. Reynold Simons, Senior Specialist for Employment and Labour Market Policies, ILO’s Caribbean Office, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Completing the ILO delegation will be Dr. Ana Theresa Romero, Head of the ILO Caribbean Office.
Today, Sanchez is set to give an introduction to the concept of ‘Green Jobs’ and an overview of the experiences of different countries in which the ILO’s Green Jobs Programme is being implemented.
Shyam Nokta, Head of the Office of Climate Change, will give an introduction to Guyana’s Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
Reynold Simons, Senior Specialist for Employment and Labour Market Policies, ILO’s Caribbean Office, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago will be making a presentation that gives an overview of employment and the labour market in Guyana. A presentation on the tools and methodologies used in the ILO’s Green Jobs Programme will be made by Ana Sanchez.
On day Two, there will be a roundtable discussion on the potential for creating Green Jobs in the context of LCDS and the chairperson for this item will be Dr.  Ana Teresa Romero.
Among the panelists will be Sanchez, Nokta, Lelita Shivanand – Consultative Association of Guyanese Industry (CAGI), a representative of the Guyana Forestry Commission/Ministry of Agriculture, a representative of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), and a representative of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC).
The conference will also feature Group Work on the creation of Green Jobs and Sustainable Enterprises within the LCDS and in the framework of the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) and a presentation by Chief Labour Occupational Safety and Health Officer, Yoganand Persaud.