The Guyana Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL) has said that it supports the LEAD project sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and urges all stakeholders to encourage and foster dialogue on it to the benefit of the nation.
GAWL is advocating for an open-minded and objective approach to be embarked upon in good faith, which it believes will result in a positive resolution to the current impasse, it said in a press release.
For 25 years the association says it has been fulfilling its primary mandate by providing education and awareness in various forms to women, children and the public. In this context, GAWL has honoured its civic duty by providing information to aid the public’s understanding of their rights and obligations on areas of law which are fundamental to their lives as citizens of Guyana.
Two of these activities were the series of countrywide seminars on the amended electoral laws prior to the 2001 General Elections which derived from the Constitution Reform Commission process. Later, in a collaboration with the then National Commission on Women, and thereafter with support from USAID, a pocket-sized, user-friendly booklet on the Constitution titled The Constitution and You was produced. USAID has also been instrumental in providing funding for the publication of our Law and You booklets the contents of which have always been very well received by the public.
“…None of these initiatives (and several others) could have been possible without the tangible support of the international and diplomatic community,” the association said. Further, GAWL welcomes the opportunity to partner with USAID in the field of education and awareness on local government laws and other activities for the benefit of the nation.
“It is and has always been our respectful view that Guyana’s successes as a nation and enhancement of its citizens can only be achieved with the efforts of all – with cooperation and assistance from all parties that are genuinely interested in our well-being as a nation,” the group said.
