Social issues particularly gender equality are at the heart of the United Kingdom’s foreign and development policy and UK official, Alicia Herbert said they are working with Guyana to “accelerate” the pace and examine strategies to tackle these areas.
Herbert, who is the Director of the Education, Gender and Equality Directorate (EdGE) at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and FCDO’s Special Envoy for Gender Equality was in Guyana for a two-day visit.
On Wednesday, she met with a number of Government officials and members from Civil Society groups to discuss a wide range of issues and examine strategies and best practices that can be explored to tackle them.
During an interview with members of the media at the British High Commissioner’s residence on Wednesday afternoon, Herbert said she met with Minister of Human Services and Social Security (MoHSSS), Dr Vindhya Persaud.
She said their discussion focused on issues such as gender-based violence, gender equality, disability and LGBTQ issues.
“We zoomed in on a number of areas. One of them around issues of gender equality and about how are there ways in which we can work together in order to ensure the sorts of initiatives that she wants to put in place, be it policy initiatives or other kind of initiatives, that they offer value for money and the best way of doing things for Guyana,” Herbert explained.
The aim of the discussion, she said was to be updated on the current status and come up with ways in which the UK can offer its support to achieve the goal.
“I think in terms of identification of the key issues around domestic violence, around issues on disability, other issues of gender equality, I think they have been identified here and I think there seems to be a recognition in terms of investing in those. Our job as the British Government based here is to come behind those efforts and to ensure that every penny that you spend is spent in a way that gives you the result that you want in order to get those rates down,” Herbert further explained.
“…. We have got a fair amount of experience on best practice, on what works, be it on policy, be it on programming, be it on implementation. So that’s one of the areas in which we can work together in order to support her ideas, in order to support her strategic objective that she wants to achieve on gender equality,” she said.
“Significantly”
The issue of gender-based violence is one that is high on the MoHSSS’ agenda.
However, there have been regular domestic violence deaths and in other cases victims experience difficulty in accessing the help they need. In many instances, victims relate having nowhere to go after leaving their abusive partners, financial dependency and/or their safety.
According to Herbert, the British Government has invested “significantly” in understanding best practices and strategies which work to prevent violence against women and girls.
“Are there ways in which that information can be shared, the practice can be shared with the ministry, with various stakeholders in Guyana so that we get those rates of domestic violence down in this country, which I know is her intention and her objective moving forward,” Herbert said.
During her meeting with Persaud, Herbert noted that emphasis was placed on the issue of domestic violence. She said Persaud’s focus appears to be on finding the “best way” possible on tackling the issue.
“She touched a number of different strategies involved…I will go back, I will think about what we have in the UK and working through colleagues at the High Commission here about how we can further support that agenda moving forward,” Herbert said.
Currently, Herbert said the UK does not have direct financing here to aid in these social issues.
She said the UK will soon publish a strategy on women and girls which will set out their intention and how they will “show up” in the world around issues of women and girls. “For us it’s about educating girls, it’s about empowering women and girls and it’s about ending violence against women and girls,” Herbert said.
Others areas of focus include teenage pregnancy and LGBTQ issues.
