Linden youths commended for involvement in community development
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, November 16, 2017
Youths in Region Ten were on Wednesday commended for their involvement and contribution to the town of Linden.
Two Members of For The Children’s Sake Foundation.
Presidential Advisor on Youth Empowerment, Aubrey Norton commended the administration’s decision to train youths within the region to adopt leadership skills and noted that the results are coming to fruition.
“We believe that communities will not develop if they do not have strong youth leaders. You cannot wait until a young person is forty and then dumped them into leadership. They have to be trained and exposed because leadership has both theory and practice,” Norton said.
He cited the example of a pilot programme in numeracy and literacy led by the youths, that resulted in several persons now being able to read and write.
“This programme will continue next year and more young people will be recruited to teach residents to read and write. The Government believes that you cannot have and develop a society with people who are illiterate and innumerate.”
Aubrey Norton, Presidential Advisor on Youth Empowerment.
With aims to further push development in the region, Norton highlighted that the administration is nearing the completion of an “Early Childhood Education Centre” in the Bay Rock area, to guide the development of children in the community and to assist parents working long hours.
The Presidential Advisor said, “We have trained eight young people from the community as early childhood teachers who will work in that center and will bring up the children in the community in the best way possible.”
The Early Childhood Education Centre is expected to be completed and fully operational in January 2018.
Also praising youth involvement in the town was Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueria who commended works done by Linden’s only Non-Governmental Organisation – “For the Children’s Sake Foundation”.
“This is what we need in our community, where civic-minded people are coming together and not waiting on government to do everything for them; but to come up with their own initiative and asking government to partner with them develop their plan.”
By: Crystal Stoll
Vernon Todd, Executive Director of For the Children’s Sake Foundation.
Jermaine Figueria, Member of Parliament.
Structure of the Early Childhood Education Centre in Bay Rock, Linden.
For more photos, click on the link to DPI’s Flickr Page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/142936155@N03/