Grants distributed to Amerindian communities to build ICT hubs

A total of 141 villages in hinterland and riverain areas have received grants to construct information and communications technology (ICT) hubs.

These hubs will enable students access to online materials that is critical to their studies.

The government has invested in bridging the digital divide between communities on the coast and those in remote areas of the country.

Project Manager of the ICT Access and E-Services for Hinterland, Poor and Remote Communities (HPRC) Project, Ronald Harsawack, said that close to $600 million in grants were invested in these communities to date. 

During a recent ICT Board Meeting at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Harsawack disclosed that the funds will also be used to build technical and administrative capacity, create employment, and stimulate village economies.

The ICT Access and E-Services for HPRC Project is targeting 200 communities. Under this initiative, Amerindian Village Councils and Community Development Councils will receive up to US$40,000 to construct ICT hubs.

Harsawack explained that project officers would oversee the construction of the facilities, conduct the training sessions and ensure the money is spent on the projects it was meant for.   

“We would go to the community, we do a conditional assessment with the Village Council, we take demographics such as population [and] all the other things that are required. We look at the most appropriate site in collaboration with those councils where we’re going to foot that building,” Harsawack said.

Civil works on the construction and retrofitting of 141 buildings will be completed by the end of November 2024.

Meanwhile, an additional 59 grants are still to be signed by villages in Regions One, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine. As of today, 111 hubs are operational.

“In every hub, there are 20 licensed computers with Microsoft Office Suite. There’s some additional proprietary software that we install that would help communities and users. There is [also] a low orbit high-speed internet connection” Harsawack said.

These additional installations provide high-speed internet connectivity of  300 megabytes per second.

The ICT Access and E-Services for HPRC Project is financed by the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF).