11,000 persons complete training through WIIN initiative

Some 11,000 persons have completed training in the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s Women Innovative and Investment Network (WIIN) programme to date.

The statistic was provided by Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud Tuesday last, during the weekly televised programme, ‘The Guyana Dialogue’.

“We had 25,000 persons registered when we started this programme in 2021. This programme is opened to women from the age of 16 who wish to elevate themselves,” Minister Persaud pointed out.

Dr Persaud disclosed that some 45 per cent of women have taken up entrepreneurship while another 28 per cent developed other skills and are now employed.

The WIIN programme is a hybrid model course that allows women to acquire various technical and vocational skills including garment construction, child care, graphic design and home management, among others.

Meanwhile, providing an update on the COP SQUAD initiative, Minister Persaud said “We have trained 1,800 members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) under the COP SQUAD initiative with technical assistance from the United Nations Population Fund,” the minister reiterated.

The COP SQUAD initiative is aimed at teaching officers how to vulnerably, cautiously and confidentially deal with reports of domestic violence.

The two programmes are part of a slew of measures which were implemented to help lessen domestic abuse between spouses and assist women in building successful lives for themselves.

Minister Persaud also noted that the government is working to integrate the community into gender-based violence to teach persons how to deal with those types of matters.

“We have also had the Community Advocate Network Programme spinning out to various communities across the country. We have touched every region with this programme,’ she noted.  

The ministry is also working to expand the number of shelters across the country.