Latest update September 3rd, 2026 10:25 AM
Guyana’s lost generation and bridging the gap
Dear Editor,
Kaieteur News – There is a generation of young men in Guyana—now aged 15 to 25—who came of age during one of our country’s most violent and destabilising decades: 2002 to 2012. Marked by political unrest, community breakdown, and widespread hopelessness, that era left behind a legacy of pain, silence, and disconnection. I call these young men Guyana’s lost generation.
But they do not have to stay lost.
The Bridging the Gap Policy, led by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, offers a bold new direction. At its heart is the BRAVE Program—a flagship initiative grounded in truth, transformation, and male agency. BRAVE challenges men and boys across Guyana to:
Build your Legacy. Reclaim Manhood. Activate Goals. Visualize Success. Execute Fearlessly.
More than an acronym, BRAVE is a movement. It calls on men and boys to break cycles of harm, take responsibility, and redefine what it means to be a man. It replaces outdated scripts—where silence is strength, violence is control, and leadership is entitlement—with a new model rooted in compassion, clarity, purpose, and service.
Reclaiming manhood is not about domination—it’s about reclaiming manhood, defining what it means to be a man for one’s self, self-determination, emotional intelligence, and legacy. It’s about stepping up, standing firm, and daring to lead differently.
This work is urgent. In Guyana, men remain the primary perpetrators of intimate partner violence while being underserved in mental health, trauma recovery, and emotional support. We cannot prevent violence without also helping men heal from the legacies that shaped them. Accountability without spaces for reflection and growth is incomplete.
Bridging the Gap is a national call to action—one that positions men and boys not as threats, but as partners in prevention, healing, and leadership. It is about reconnection: between generations, between institutions and communities, and between our ideals and lived realities. It is about ensuring that a 16-year-old boy in Lethem or Sophia doesn’t grow up believing his only choices are silence or rage.
Guyana doesn’t need another lost generation. It needs a generation of men who are BRAVE enough to lead with empathy, take accountability, and build a future defined not by control, but by legacy.
Yours truly,
Rawle A. Small
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