– honoured for advancing gender issues
Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand last week explored the possibility of creating advanced training programmes for social services workers in Guyana while on a visit to Lesley University and the Margaret Clemons Foundation, during which she was honoured for her work on gender issues.
The training, which could include Bachelor’s and Mas-ter’s degrees, as well as certified programmes in counselling and expressive therapies would initially target social services providers working with children and women. The training would help to further professionalize social services in Guyana.
According to a press release, the training programmes will be built on cutting edge expressive art therapies approaches in which counsellors will engage clients in the healing process through the therapeutic use of the arts.
Last Wednesday, the release said, the Minister observed a Masters’ level course offered by the US based university which is designed to train counsellors in expressive art therapy and to address issues of power, privilege and culture in counselling.
Manickchand later joined Lesley University Provost Martha McKenna; Lesley University Under Graduate Dean, Mary Coleman; other members of the University faculty along with the president and staff of the Margaret Clemons Foundation in a series of meetings to explore possible options for the design of the counsellor training programs.
The press release added that Manickchand also described Guyana’s social services and the interests of the government in training staff while articulating the requirement that any training offered here should be culturally relevant and effectively attend to the needs of Guyanese.
Lesley University leaders shared the academic expertise that they could offer to the design and implementation of the training programmes.
Staff from the Margaret Clemons Foundation, reiterated that it would continue to support this emerging partnership and other activities that could help to end violence against women and children in Guyana through the arts.
Later in the day, the release said, the minister met the university’s president Joseph Moore, who confirmed the university’s commitment to partner with the government of Guyana. Also in attendance at this meeting was Marjorie Jones, former vice chancellor and dean of the Education Faculty at the University of Guyana and who is now a professor of education at Lesley College.
Minister Manickchand also observed workshops offered as part of a two-day conference (last Thursday and Friday) at Lesley University focused on ‘Arts and Activism’, including a session designed to train youth workers to use the arts as a vehicle to help young people develop important social and emotional competencies.
Manickchand and Hugh Masakela, South African artist and civil rights leader, were both honoured at the conference for their leadership to foster civil rights. Manickchand gave the keynote speech on the final day of the conference in which she called for an intensified global effort to be made for gender equality using innovative means if the world is going to be all it is capable of being.
Meanwhile, during her visit to the university, Manickchand met two biologists who are working towards conservation of tropical forests through education, eco-tourism and by building social infrastructure among people and institutions with common goals.
David Morimoto and Mike Schindlinger both serve on the Board of Directors of Foster Parrots and the New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary which provided the seed money and technical training to build the Mapaima Eco lodge at Nappi Village (Rupununi), the release said. Nappi Village has been recognized as one of Guyana’s premier places to encounter wildlife and the eco lodge now plays a pivotal role in supporting the village’s ability to create non-extractive income streams from tourism.
The two biologists have also worked with Rewa, to provide developmental assistance with the recently built eco lodge there including cameras, video editing, computers, solar panels, field books and binoculars.
According to the press release, Morimoto and Schindlinger lead Lesley students to Guyana every year in a course entitled ‘Field Experiences in Tropical Ecology’ as a way of increasing students’ global awareness of issues in biodiversity, development and human ecology across cultures.
Of fourteen students who have taken the course in 2009/2010, two have already returned to Guyana to pursue longer post-graduate science education activities.
Further, the press release said that a three-course undergraduate semester in Guyana is in the development stages and will be designed as a “fair trade” education where students will acquire local knowledge and give back through English language teaching, using environmental themes for their host families and interested villagers including local educators.
More information about this programme is available at http://guyana.freeprrots.org.
Casey Grenier, one of the students who participated in this programme last year subsequently created a blog of photos featuring the beauty of Guyana (http://guyanagrenier.wordpress.com).
