Human Services Ministry receives electronics from UNDP

The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, under its Spotlight Initiative, on Tuesday received several electronics such as computers and printers from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This donation was made to robustly aid in the data collection of Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases of victims and perpetrators.

Receiving the devices at the Lusignaan Hope and Justice Centre on the East Coast of Demerara was Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Vindhya Persaud who noted that it is important for the spotlight initiative to adapt to the digital world.

“Now, moving forward in a modern world we must have digitising of records. We must have not only the collection of data but the analysis of data. We must also have the generation of reports. So, that pillar that UNDP was responsible for continues to give. Because, before this, we also received technical support to develop the software that we needed,” Minister Persaud explained.

Along with the Lusignaan Hope and Justice Centre, the minister said that the remaining electronics will soon be distributed to other centres in Regions One and Three.

She envisioned that these centres would be opened sometime in the first quarter of this year.

Additionally, Deputy Director for UNDP in the Caribbean, Linda Maguire elucidated that the act of data collection is vital to uproot the causes of gender-based violence in all countries.

“At the end of the day, initiatives like these are intended to get at the root causes of the problem while at the same time attending to survivors and giving them the tools that they need,” Maguire said.

Meanwhile, UNDP’s Resident Representative, Gerardo Noto noted that the programme aims to work along with the ministry to develop and keenly analyse data for effective responses.

“We work with the government of Guyana, specifically the Ministry of Human Services to develop a GBV database that is currently in the last stage of improving and expanding its capacity to generate, analyse and produce data,” the UNDP’s representative noted.