– Rusal recruits three
Three Kwakwani women were recruited from a group of about 30 who graduated from an eight-week course in Information Technology and Office Procedures, hosted by the Guyana Women’s Leader-ship Institute (GWLI) of the Ministry of Labour Human Services and Social Security.
According to a Govern-ment Information Agency (GINA) press release the women received certificates at a graduation ceremony held in the auditorium of the Kwakwani Primary School on Saturday. In his charge to the graduates, Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir said the course is another example of government fulfilling its commitment to the people. He also alluded to several other projects currently ongoing in Linden that stemmed from a Cabinet outreach exercise held in June.
Nadir also announced that three of the graduates have gained employment at the Russian Alumina Company (Rusal). He also encouraged the other graduates to persevere as, “everyone won’t find a job at Rusal… everyone won’t find a job in George-town or Linden but opportunities exist….” He also told them that Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand had asked him to convey her felicitations and to tell them to try to secure some form of employment with their new found skills, such as providing typing services for persons in the community, until they gain employment tailored to suit their qualifications.
The programme themed ‘Capacity Building for Skills Advancement’ “provided underprivileged and single-parent women with the necessary education and training to develop their capacity for poverty reduction.” It was adjusted for slow learners and the entire batch was able to graduate on Saturday. The course extended to Kwakwani following a needs analysis that stemmed from Nadir’s visit to the Region Ten community in June during a Cabinet outreach exercise.
Most of the women are early school leavers and Social Services Director Wentworth Tanner encouraged them to aim high despite their circumstances. He also encouraged them by relating the story of an early school leaver who had graduated from a similar programme and is now successful.
Graduate Asante Mittelholzer extended gratitude to the government for the opportunities the programme brought to Kwakwani. “There are many of us here that never had the chance to write CXC and it makes us want to go on and on,” she said.
Region Ten Regional Executive Officer Mark Hooper told the women their accomplishments have made the region proud. He noted that such a programme is a step in the right direction.
According to GINA, the GWLI has been offering a resident programme at Cove and John, East Coast Demerara, for underprivileged and single-parent women. Since 2005 it has been calling for training in rural and hinterland communities. Nadir referred to other programmes under government’s purview with the same objective including the BIT training for out of school youths, the Youth Entrep-reneurial Skills Training Programme hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and nurses training by the Ministry of Health. “The government in developing programmes to give persons, especially young persons and women, employable skills and as his Excellency in his new year’s message said, he is targeting 4,000 of these persons in 2010. This is just a small part,” Nadir said, adding that government has invested $131 million in training.
GINA said GWLI Coordinator Sheila Veerasammy, USAID Mission Director Carol Horning and Head of the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) Alana Brassington also attended the ceremony.