123 Region Seven women benefitting from WIIN training

Some 123 women from Bartica and Kamarang, Region Seven are empowering themselves through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s – Women Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN) programme.

In Bartica, some 50 women are being trained in child care level two, another 19 are being trained in entrepreneurship, and 23 women are pursuing the care for the elderly course.

Similarly, some 31 women are being trained in garment construction in Kamarang.

The overall goal of the programme is to build the capacity of persons within the region and enhance their abilities to gain employment or create small businesses.

In the child care course, participants from the 2021 and 2022 cohorts are being upskilled to level two which enables them to provide home-based care for persons within their communities and generate income.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud has emphasised the importance of home-based care as part of the government’s development strategy.

Additionally, participants can now work in childcare facilities already established in the region.

Persons completing the care for the elderly course will also be upskilled in 2024 to level two empowering them to perform the same home-based care type of service.

Coordinator of the WIIN, Sanjay Pooran highlighted that “Participants completing the Entrepreneurship course are those who have an existing informal business structure. The overarching goal of this programme is to help them elevate the enterprise into a formal structure in the coming months thereby moving the business into the formal economy.”

This will be done in collaboration with the ministry’s business incubator at Guyana Women’s Leadership Institute (GWLI).

WIIN has upskilled the lives of more than 6,000 women in several areas since its launch in May 2021.