The Council of the International Decade of People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) will soon be opening its secretariat at 121 Regent Street, Bourda.
According to a press release from IDPADA-Y, the organization which was granted a subvention of $68 million in the 2018 Budget to establish the secretariat and coordinate the efforts of the African Guyanese community to realise the theme of the United Nations Decade, 2015 – 2024, made the announcement at a Special General Assembly held on May 6.
At the Assembly, the appointment of the Executive Director was ratified and Olive Sampson was installed as the CEO/Secretary and member of the Coordinating Council, the IDPADA-G statement said. Two of the over one dozen project proposals received from African Guyanese groups were identified for funding. These projects are capacity building ventures focused on African Guyanese youth and women.
According to the media release, the organisation went through a gestation period from November 2016 to October 2017, after President David Granger, in his address at the Annual Cuffy 250 Forum, mandated the assembly to be responsive to the UN’s declared International Decade for People of African Descent by organising the African Guyanese community in pursuit of the realisation of the theme of the decade: Recognition, Justice and Development.
IDPADA-G, which is also known as the Country Coordinating Mechanism for the Decade, held its first General Assembly on December 17, 2017, the press release noted. At that meeting, its Charter was approved, its membership confirmed, its operational plan for 2018 outlined and its Coordinating Council, committees and sub-committees established. Vincent Alexander was appointed as Chairman and Drs. Simpson DaSilva and Norman Ng-A-Qui, Johnathan Adams, and Esther Gittens as members of the Coordinating Council. Dr. Mark Kirton was subsequently co-opted to the Council.
The organisation’s operational plan is streamlined under four headings: Policy, Programme, Projects and Special Projects with four sub-heads: Employment, Economy, Education and Equality/Expiation, the statement said. It will seek to influence the direction of Government in those areas as well as foster African Guyanese community self-activism around these issues.
IDPADA-G has also established a COMPACT among African Guyanese organisations, under which it has been making representation on behalf of African Guyanese individuals and organisations requiring urgent representation to address wrong-doings and injustices which have befallen them.
