Analysis to determine viability of extending HEYS programme- Minister Allicock
DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, November 21, 2017
The Hinterland Employment and Youth Service (HEYS) programme will end in August 2018, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs will be conducting an analysis to determine the viability of extending the programme.
Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock addressing the village leaders during the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) in Apoteri, Region Nine.
This was according to Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Minister, Sydney Allicock, who was at the time addressing the Indigenous village leaders during the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) meeting in Apoteri, North Rupununi, Region Nine.
According to Minister Allicock, while his ministry has seen some great results, it is still to determine whether the programme should be continued. He noted that “We are going to do an analysis, a check on what has been done to see what benefits or failure. We know that we have a lot of young people across the region who are really doing it and, I always talk about this young lady in region two who wanted to give up, she said that on about three occasions she wanted to chuck in and today she is the breadwinner of her family.”
Minister Allicock explained that the intention is to ensure that the programme achieves the desired results, and therefore, persons will be engaging the Village Councils, beneficiaries and parents/guardians to ascertain their reaction.
“We want to get a feedback from the communities to see if it is viable because we are spending millions of dollars and we want to see results. We are investing it in our young people and we would want to see results,” the Minister emphasised.
The HEYS programme was inspired by President David Granger’s vision for chartering a course of sustainable livelihoods for Hinterland and Indigenous youths.
Under Phase One, nearly $1B was expended on the implementation of HEYS, where 2,000 youths were trained from 200 hinterland communities. Eighty (80) percent of these youths now own their own businesses. The sum of $991 million was allocated in the 2017 budget to roll out Phase Two of the programme, where another 2,000 youths are undergoing training.
By: Synieka Thorne
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