MORE than one hundred single-parent women are “anxiously” awaiting the launch of the Women of Worth (WOW) Programme in Region 1 (Barima/Waini) this year, Human Services Minister Jennifer Webster said recently.

Government uses the WOW programme to help such women expand their microcredit enterprises, and even to embark upon new business ventures that could help to financially sustain them and their families.
The Human Services sector was allocated approximately $9.18B this year, which represents a 45 percent increase in allocation over last year, Minister Webster said recently in an interview aired on the National Communications Network (NCN).
In presenting the budget for 2013, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had said that the WOW initiative would be reinvigorated this year. In collaboration with private sector partners, he said, training sessions would be delivered in areas such as basic entrepreneurship, networking, accounting, branding, promotion and advertising, and packaging; and this would target 200 beneficiaries.
Former Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand had said that the WOW initiative, in which the government collaborated with the Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry Limited (GBTI), serves to alleviate poverty in a general way, but more specifically among single-parent women.
WOW also intends to make women more financially independent, thus reducing the incidents of violence against women and children. It also serves to catapult Guyana closer to a place where the country genuinely enjoys the benefits of gender equality.
In order to benefit from the WOW initiative, the applicant must be a female single parent between the ages of 18 and 60, and must be earning under $40,000 monthly. The person must be on the single parent register, and must be in possession of a skill, or have expertise in the field in which she wishes to begin her business.
No collateral would be needed to access the loan, which would be $100,000 at minimum and $250,000 at maximum, and would be issued at a repayment rate of 6% per annum. The loan must be repaid over a twenty-four-month period.