Guyana seeks US$30M loan to strengthen public assistance programmes for elderly and domestic violence victims 

Aug 16, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

---

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security (MHSS) has applied to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for a US$30M loan to enhance public assistance programmes in place for the protection of vulnerable populations including persons living with disabilities as well as victims of human trafficking and Gender Based Violence (GBV).

According to the project profile prepared by the IDB, this would be done by enhancing the MHSSS’s capacity to efficiently implement several mechanisms for fiscal support. The specific objectives include: improving the efficiency and transparency of the ministry’s programmes through digital transformation; expanding the coverage and improving the delivery of the public assistance programmes for vulnerable groups; and supporting strategies and services that address human trafficking and GBV.

With respect to the need for digital tools and management information systems at the ministry, the IDB said this is critical since it relies on multiple systems and databases, resulting in scattered and unconsolidated data that hampers effective decision-making.

The bank said the ministry has started working on a Beneficiary Registry and Document Management System (MIS), and on the conceptualization of a new information technology unit, but these initiatives have not been implemented yet.

To support the wellbeing of the elderly population, it was noted that the ministry implements a universal Senior Citizens Pension (SCP) programme, which targets individuals 65 years and older. The programme has approximately 68,147 beneficiaries and delivers a monthly transfer of US$158 (GY $33,000). Based on a comparison of Latin American and Caribbean country, the IDB said this pension scheme has very high coverage (92% of the target population) but low value (with the pension representing 30% of preretirement average earnings).

Additionally, the IDB said the majority of pensioners still receive their benefits through vouchers obtained from post offices. The IDB said this is a challenge for residents of remote areas, as travel costs incurred to cash the transfers can amount to 20% or more of their value. The IDB said efforts have been made to introduce alternative payment methods, including direct cash payments, payments through alternate venues (other than the traditional post offices), bank transfers and the Mobile Money Guyana mobile wallet application. However, the IDB said migration to alternate cash payments has been low (less than 1.5%).

Regarding the public assistance programme for persons living with disabilities (PwD), the financial institution said this programme delivers a monthly transfer of US$77, and targets three groups: (i) persons living with permanent disabilities; (ii) individuals facing economic hardship; (iii) individuals who have temporary medical conditions which restricts them from earning.

Approximately 16,000 PwD are currently enrolled in the programme, representing 64% of its beneficiaries. The IDB said the programme is under-dimensioned, in terms of both benefits which represent half of the transfers paid to older persons) and coverage, as the number of beneficiaries represents only about one third of the target population.

Notably, the IDB said human trafficking is on the rise, affecting mostly women and girls and among them, migrants and young people from rural and indigenous communities in particular. The bank said trafficking occurs in remote interior communities with limited government presence. For 2022, the government and non-governmental organizations identified 231 victims which represented an additional 27 victims relative to 2020. Of these, 218 were women, 20 of them underage, exploited in sex or labor trafficking.

In May 2023, Guyana approved the new Trafficking in Persons Bill, which expands the definition of exploitation and aims to strengthen the government’s ability to respond to the issue. As part of the implementation of the Bill, the ministry is tasked with supporting victims. Its Counter-Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP) Unit supports the identification of the victims and provides them with social welfare and assistance.

Importantly, the Ministry of Human Services is the principal government partner for the Spotlight Initiative Programme, which aims to create an environment for women and girls to live a life free of violence, harmful practices and intersecting forms of discrimination. To this end, the Ministry implements community-based awareness and advocacy initiatives, and provides victims of gender-based violence (GBV) with psychosocial services, counselling and forensic interviews, and referrals to other supportive services. This initiative addresses the fact that Guyana has one of the highest rates of GBV in the region.

The IDB noted that women in Guyana report experiencing higher rates of physical violence (35%) than in other Caribbean countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname (both at 27%). Although the Ministry has several programmes which address these issues, the IDB said there is need for a comprehensive strategy which incorporates all of these programmes to address GBV, which should include an increase in the coverage and quality of the existing services. For example, only 10% of the reported cases of domestic violence were prosecuted in 2022.

With respect to financing, the IDB said the proposed programmatic policy-based loan is structured in two technically linked but financially independent operations. The first, described in this article, leverages parallel co-financing resources from Global Affairs Canada for an amount of US$90 million. It promotes the preparation and/or approval of strategic and regulatory policies in three areas: (i) digital transformation of the ministry, aimed at increasing the efficiency of the country’s safety net; (ii) improved coverage and implementation of the safety net; and (iii) addressing human trafficking and gender-based violence.

Meanwhile, the second operation of this programme will focus on the implementation of the policy actions promoted by the first operation.

---

• domestic, elderly, Government, Ministry of Human Services and Social Security (MHSS), violence

---