The project comes under a larger initiative meant to increase awareness within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities of their rights and responsibilities through funding from the Australian Government via Australian Aid.
Speaking about the project, SASOD’s Joel Simpson said that for SASOD and Aus Aid it was important that the policy was developed to deal with situations involving children and encountered in the field.
“The draft policy, which is still to be reviewed will guide how SASOD as an organisation address instances of physical or sexual abuse of children that may be encountered,” he said.
“The policy will say how one goes about contacting the relevant agencies such as the Child Care and Protection Agency of the Ministry of Human Services and the Guyana Police Force,” Simpson added.
Before being launched and released to the public in about four months’ time, the policy must first be reviewed and approved by the Board of SASOD and its membership.
Further, the project aimed to develop Human Rights materials which could be used to educate the public around gender, sexuality and human rights in Guyana.
The project also developed materials which will be used to orient the health care professionals to deliver effective services to LGBT citizens and to develop materials which will be used to orient the social work profession in respecting the rights of LGBT citizens
The aim of the project was to provide human rights education to sexual and gender minorities in Guyana; and to the service providers in the social services and health care sectors so as to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and transsexual persons in Guyana could achieve their full potential.
There were some 33 group discussions involving approximately 680 persons reached in 6 out of the 10 Regions. There were four workshops on Human Rights with a total of 89 persons reached.
The project involved the development of five Posters and three Brochures by second and third year Social Work students of the University of Guyana, and by social workers, members of the Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers, and members of the Guyana Nurses Association.
