A young woman who was pardoned under President David Granger’s amnesty and a former resident of the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) both of whom are into poultry rearing, along with a young man who has started a honey business, are just three of 100 persons who have benefited under the Government’s Sustain-able Livelihood and Entrepreneur Development (SLED) Initiative.
The SLED Initiative, according to President Granger, in collaboration with the US Government funded Skills and Know-ledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) initiative has been providing skills-training to disadvantaged youths.
“Training is important but certification must be converted into careers. The initiative’s beneficiaries, must be equipped for employment or self-employment,” the President said yesterday, adding that certification must enhance employment prospects and bring increased recognition to those who are starting their own businesses. The Head of State was speaking at the SLED Initiative award ceremony which saw a number of young people from various parts of the country receiving certificates.
The initiative was announced by Finance Minister Winston Jordan in his first budget presentation where he stated that the government would have introduce job-creation measures to promote micro and small scale enterprises that will open opportunities for the disadvantaged and youth. At that time he had said that initaive would be aimed at “stimulating community growth opportunities at the grassroots level through the financing of small community driven programmes.”
According to Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, under whose ministry the programme was introduced, it targets vulnerable groups in society that may fall outside of the radar of other socio-economic programmes.
“The SLED initiative focuses on community groups and organisations that reach the very vulnerable in society, school dropouts, amnesty recipients, small-scale farmers, single parents, especially women and others to give them an opportunity to a better life,” the minister said.
As it relates to the execution of the initiative, the minister explained that advertisements were placed inviting expression of interests and 140 of these were received. In the end, seven groups were selected and they have been engaged in pig rearing and pork production, beekeeping, farming and tourism, sheep and goat rearing, expansion of existing production and bottling pepper sauce and seasoning, computer repairs and training, enabling business startups and providing life and work skills training, information and communication technology training and capacity building.
The minister said $76.5 million were disbursed and the groups received grants ranging between $3 million and $20 million.
The objective of SLED is to provide both financial and technical support that can contribute to economic expansion by specifically harnessing the resource potential of local communities. It is hoped that in the medium term the investment will create approximately 200 jobs with a multiplier economic impact.
The minister urged those who would receive jobs out of the programme to value their employment and develop their skills and those who will start businesses to focus on their business and be dedicated.
And according to Granger, the SLED initiative emphasizes the administration’s employment policy by encouraging entrepreneurship for young people. He said as well that it contradicts the criticisms that the administration has no employment plan for the unemployed and underemployed.
He pointed out that his administration has also announced the launch of the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN) which enabled 40 entrepreneurs from across the Upper Demerara-Berbice region to receive loans to further facilitate their business enterprises through the $155 million subvention it received in the 2015 budget.
Further, the administration also launched the billion-dollar Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) which involves 2,000 young people from 106 communities in the hinterland regions and is administered through the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs.
“The SLED, HEYS and LEN initiatives are all part of the administration’s grand youth employment strategy. That strategy stands on a bipod of education and entrepreneurship,” the Head of State said.
According to Granger, his government’s employment strategy depends on attracting foreign and domestic investment. He said initiatives are needed to help young people to overcome the constraints to greater self-employment, the lack of finance being one constraint.
The government, he said, has been addressing the issue of finance for business start-ups and will continue to do this for small and medium enterprises which account for half of all formal employment globally and which tend to enjoy higher level of job growth when compared to large enterprises.
“The government, quite clearly, has been finding employment for the unemployed,” the President stated revealing that the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency of the Ministry of Social Protection registered 3,430 job-seekers in 2015 and placements were found for 3,051 of those persons.
However, he did admit that there is need for more employment to meet people’s needs, especially of the 15,000 students graduating from the University of Guyana and from the secondary schools every year,
“The unemployment rate will escalate unless there are interventions to meet young people’s needs. The state will do everything necessary to find employment for all young school-leavers. The public services together with the private sector and foreign corporations must combine their efforts and energies to generate employment,” the President said.
