The Guyana Association of Home Econo-mists (GAHE) is urging local hotels, restaurants and other business houses to “come on board” in an effort to make the March-April 21st Biennial Conference of the Caribbean Association of Home Economists “a national showpiece” that can leave a permanent memory of Guyana as a country of high standards.
“We want the private sector on board. In fact, entities like hotels, restaurants and other types of businesses are a legitimate part of the Home Economics family,” former association president Janice Mason told Stabroek Business.
How to fully integrate the discipline of Home Economics into the regional development agenda is one of the issues to be considered at the March 28 – April 1 forum scheduled to take place in Georgetown. The opening ceremony will be held at the National Cultural Centre while the plenary sessions will be held in the Queen’s College Auditorium.
Stabroek Business understands that Education Minister Priya Manickchand has endorsed the event and has thrown the weight of her ministry behind it, whilst GAHE is engaging First Lady Deolatchmie Ramotar with a view to having her serve as patron of the forum.
GAHE President Stacia Skinner-Herbert told Stabroek Business that the conference was being held at a time when local Home Economics professionals were seeking to alter the perception that Home Economic was a discipline for students who were not academically inclined and that studying the discipline was likely to lead to low-level employment.
Earlier, Mason had told this newspaper that she believed that the high profile which the conference would afford Guyana was certain to enhance the profession locally.
On Tuesday it was also announced that event will include a “Conference Marketplace” at which products from participating territories will be on display and sale. Stabroek Business has learnt that around 10 local producers in the various culinary and creative spheres have been invited to participate in the Marketplace. Each participating territory will also be performing a cultural item at a cultural show on the opening evening.
Skinner-Herbert said the structure of the programme had been designed to ensure that apart from the professional work-related pursuits on the agenda, the conference afford an opportunity for the promotion of Guyana’s tourism product. Opportunities have been created for delegates to visit places of interest in Guyana. Accordingly, the Conference Secretariat is facilitating a number of pre and post-conference tours to Kaieteur Falls, Santa Mission, Arrow Point, Fort Island, Linden and Splashmin’s Resort. A bus trip to Suriname is also part of the tourist package.
