The Ministry of Home Affairs is re-launching its Community Action Component (CAC) in order to engage youth in community-building projects to deter them from turning to crime.
Coordinator of the Citizen Security Programme (CSP) Khemraj Rai, according to the Government Information Agency (GINA), said the CAC is an important aspect of its programme. He said the CAC was first launched in 2007 but had been suspended from 2008-2009 to review its structure. He said the revised programme will see the involvement of 10 communities, five of which government has already identified. These communities include Rose Hall and Port Mourant in Region Six, and Buxton, Annandale and Sophia in Region Four. Interventions are being made to include Lusignan and Agricola. If the selected communities agree, persons from other communities can also participate in the programme.
Rai said that during the previous CAC programme the focus was on advancing the lifestyles of youth and adults through workshops and seminars. The restructured programme targets school dropouts between the ages of 14 and 25, through training that will be delivered in two components, skills training as well as building entrepreneurial/business capacities. Additionally, youths will be able to benefit from literacy and numeracy classes. The coordinator said the CSP will work to assist the selected communities to form councils; elect an executive body that is then expected to nominate a Community Action Officer who will be tasked with monitoring the activities of the councils.
The officer will liaise between the community and the CSP. The communities will be tasked with identifying the youths for involvement in the programme as well as the needs assessment. GINA said the ministry will provide guidance and resources and that each community will be tasked with identifying three ‘quick wind’ projects and will be given US$5,000 to expend on each project. The projects may include rehabilitating recreational centres, or the procurement of equipment or books.
GINA said the CSP was established to use a comprehensive structure of crime and violence prevention strategies to assist in decreasing the crime rate in Guyana. It will also facilitate smaller community action projects that are geared at promoting community cohesion and intra-community camaraderie. CAC’s goal is to assist communities to become sustainable in their functions by including all persons in the creation of opportunities for its youth to keep them from a life of crime.
