UNICEF workshop wraps up in Berbice

Sep 15, 2008 News

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ROSE HALL TOWN, CORENTYNE – The St. Francis Community Developers and their 21 support groups have made yet another stride.

UNICEF announced that it would be supporting community groups across the country that offer a comprehensive range of services for children. Should any group be unable to satisfy the criteria, it must be willing to collaborate with stakeholders as was seen in two just concluded workshops hosted at the St. Francis Community Developers.

The Life Skills Manual Implementation Training programme was held on September 10 -11, and the Foster Care Sponsorship Implementation Training on September 12.

On Friday, the closing ceremony was held at the St. Francis Community Developers Office at Rose Hall Town.
FOCUS Officer of the St. Francis Community Developers, Rawle Pereira, explained that the objectives of the workshops were to correct, update and finalize the manuals for the Life Skills and the Foster Care Sponsorship Scheme. The documents would assist in boosting the efforts of the nutritional enhancement programme, child-friendly spaces/schools and sponsorship.

They also served as a means to examine existing services available in the region, identify gaps and make the necessary changes to ensure continued support from UNICEF and other partners and donors.

Another purpose was to train those who would in turn impart their knowledge to other stakeholders and beneficiaries.

President of the St. Francis Community Developers, Alex Foster, who represented UNICEF, explained that the Family, Youth and Children at Risk Project is to become the flagship project for Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname. Mr. Foster is to depart next month for Trinidad to share his expertise.

He said that the approval of the two manuals was gained through consultation sessions and by giving stakeholders a chance to be actively involved. These manuals were developed in 2007 through similar training and consultation programmes. “This session was basically to get it approved by taking into consideration all the inputs by the various service providers were truly reflected in the manuals.”

The main aim of UNICEF is to offer to families a comprehensive range of services at one location to aid in their development, this is in accordance with the United Nations Rights of a Child which stipulates that each child is given equal access to water and sanitation, education, health and family.

Representatives of the St. Francis Community Developers are to travel to other Regions to expand the boundaries of the services offered by sharing their know how on such projects. As such a number of other training sessions would be held in other administrative regions, “We must take into consideration the uniqueness of every region, its ability in terms of human resources, we also have to take into consideration their geographic layout. Their community may be stretched far apart and would require other means of communication. We must also consider that there might not be very strong NGO and private sector support.”
He pointed out that support is another aspect to consider but with the help of UNICEF all the challenges would be identified and the necessary recommendations would be made for the way forward.

The St. Francis Community Developers and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Foster Care Umbrella Sponsorship (FOCUS) Project falls under the Family, Youth and Children at Risk Project.

The Family Youth and Children at Risk project deals mainly with families in crisis disadvantaged young people and vulnerable children. It offers help to these persons in the form of training, empowerment, actual support, advocacy, counseling, legal advice and other aspects.

It was launched in 2000 under the name Women and Children at Risk. There was also a sister project dubbed Youth at Risk, which dealt with negative issues facing young people, HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted infections. It also provided the necessary support. After complaints by some of the male gender that the project was biased, the two were merged in March 2003 and renamed Family, Youth and Children at Risk.

In April 2004, the Family, Youth and Children at Risk received further assistance when UNICEF pumped more funds to respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. Food for the Poor and Partners of St. Francis together provided support to the various aspects of the project. On April 13th, 2005 the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project was launched to complement existing services.

Three weeks ago, four new play schools commenced operation as part of the Family, Youth and Children at Risk project. They are at St. Mark’s Community Developers at Alness, Mibicuri Community Developers at Black Bush Polder, Shining Star Community Developers at Limlair, and Swing Star Community Developers at Number Fifty-Eight Village.

Together, there are six of these facilities in Region Six under the project. The other two are the pilot ones and are situated at the Albion Chapel Skills Training Centre at Fyrish and the Eversham Community Developers.

UNICEF provided the necessary training, while Sandra Hooper of Educare, Guyana helped with the technical aspect.

Each of these play schools is equipped with a child-friendly space and would be added to the 52 child-friendly spaces already existing in East Berbice and the one on the western side of the Berbice River.

In support of these ventures, UNICEF funded a series of day care management curriculum workshops.
Some 400 persons drawn from across Berbice participated so far. From August 4 to August 21, the Staff Development/Capacity Interviewing and Counselling sessions were held at the Mibicuri Community Developers Centre and the Albion Chapel Skills Training Centre respectively.

From August 11 to 13, Day Care Management Curriculum Development sessions were held at the St. Francis Community Developers’ Head Quarters.

There was also the three-day Day Care Management Training for Tutors and Volunteers, which wrapped up three weeks ago. The venue was the Mibicuri Community Developers Centre.

The First Aid Training programme is from September 22 to 24, and on October 13 is the seminar on the Rights of the Child. All of these are to be hosted at the St. Francis Community Developers’ building.

In May. UNICEF handed over some $22 million to the St. Francis Community Developers and some of their support groups for the family projects.

The Albion Chapel Library and Skill Training Centre at Fyrish got $3 million for the development of their play school and for the empowerment of single parents.

The Mibicuri Community Developers received another $3 million for the purpose of providing support services for families affected by the impact of suicide in the family unit.

FACT Community Developers at Corriverton received $3.1 million to upgrade their Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project’s activities in the Upper Corentyne area. Some $13 million was given to the parent body — St. Francis Community Developers — for its Family Youth and Children at Risk Project.

Participant and teacher Maylene Welsh, who represented the Department of Education, described the sessions as rewarding. She said they opened new doors and would make it easier for them along with welfare officers to address the issue of school drop-outs and other social concerns.

The representative of the Department of Health, Jennifer Christopher, dubbed the workshops as motivating factors since there are times when it appears that enough is not being done for children.

Police Sergeant Yonnett Stephens said that, with the special on-the-job training she had received to deal with domestic violence and child abuse, the workshops have taken her a step further.

Sonja Sampson is the Coordinator of the Albion Chapel Library and Skill Training Centre. On May 9, her group launched its Protecting Children for the Future Project. Under this program, parents and children are to be equally empowered. She said that the two workshops impacted in a positive way, since they are the ones who know what is best needed in the communities, and to assist in designing the manuals was a privilege. 

Each of the 45 participants selected from Regions Five and Six received certificates.
The participants were drawn from the Guyana Police Force, Ministries of Health, Education and Youth, Sports and Culture, Tain Hindu Mandir, the Berbice Anjuman Orphanage, the Guyanese Outreach, Skeldon Amerindian Hostel, the Number Sixty-Eight Baptiste Church Skills Training Center and other organizations.

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