Overseas specialist to assess the state of NOC
DPI Guyana, Wednesday, January 24, 2018
The Ministry of Social Protection (MoSP) will be collaborating with Cuso International, to engage an Organisational Development specialist, to assess the current structure of the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) at Onderneeming on the Essequibo Coast.
Whentworth Tanner, Director of Social Services within the Ministry of Social Protection, Whentworth Tanner.
Director of Social Services, Wentworth Tanner explained that the specialist will evaluate not only the staff complement at the facility but also the core competencies that are needed to bring the institution in line with the minimum standards required by such an institution. Tanner said that the specialist will be in Guyana within two weeks.
Speaking to the Department of Public Information (DPI), Tanner further stated that the ministry will also be undertaking works on the physical structure of the facility. Funds were allocated in the 2018 budget for that project. “The funds are not enough to do all the works, and so we will have to look at the most critical areas that need to be fixed,” Tanner explained.
The ministry will be launching a Self-Sufficient Agricultural Economic Services Project at the Institution. This project will form part of the re-integration programme on the institution’s curriculum.
In July 2017, the operation of the NOC was transferred from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Social Protection, on the basis that the institution’s purpose is to prepare and train juveniles for reintegration into society.
The juvenile correctional facility caters to youths between the ages of 12 to 17 and most of those have been enlisted for wandering. The maximum period of rehabilitation is three years, or depending on individual circumstances it could be reduced to a minimum of one year.
Cuso International is an international organisation that works to reduce poverty and inequality through the efforts of highly skilled volunteers, collaborative partnerships, and donors.
By: Synieka Thorne
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