With its Conversations on Citizenship forum mere weeks away, the Janus Cultural Policy Initiative (JCPI) yesterday hosted a meeting with 20 representatives from various religious, ethnic and cultural organisations to create the agenda for their upcoming event.
Held in the National Library’s Conference Room, the agenda-setting meeting provided stakeholders the opportunity to brainstorm on cultural solutions to deal with the development issues that affect Guyana.
“The JCPI believes that many of Guyana’s social and subsequent developmental problems can be solved culturally. Among these issues are ethnopoliticisation and the consequent lack of social cohesion,” a release from the body said.
In an interview with Stabroek News, JCPI representative Sara Bharrat said that the Conversations on Citizenship forum will be the first of its kind held locally where Guyanese will be allowed to openly discuss issues on race, ethnicity and citizenship.
During the gathering yesterday, stakeholders had the opportunity to speak on a number of topics including ethnicity and how it is perceived in Guyana along with racism and just what it means to be a Guyanese.
The Conversations on Citizenship forum will be held for three days beginning on August 28 at the Umana Yana and aims to facilitate conversations on various aspects of culture and human as well as social development. These conversations will help shape the JCPI’s cultural policy, slated for production by next January.
