YIPoG receives 28 proposal submission thus far

− Youth Director urged all to participate in this initiative

− Closing date of this year’s YIPoG is April 30

DPI, Guyana, Friday, April 5, 2019

The Youth Department’s Youth Innovation Project of Guyana (YIPoG) has received approximately 28 proposal submissions so far for the year.

The YIPoG initiative was launched in 2017 by the Ministry of Presidency’s Department of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sport. It was created to foster competitiveness and creativity while providing an avenue for young Guyanese to become entrepreneurs.

Maintaining a high level of competition, it also recognises and supports the production of outstanding project proposals and initiatives from the 10 administrative regions of Guyana. Through this initiative, young people are afforded the opportunity to propose solutions to address issues in their communities through Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Anthropology, Archeology, Arts, Mathematics and Spirituality also known as STEAMS.

Speaking with the Department of Public Information (DPI), Director of Youth Melissa Carmichael-Hayes said that there has been a large outpouring of young people interested in submitting their ideas.

“We have a number of registrations; we have seen a couple of proposals come in and we have persons signalling their interest from different regions. For instance, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) has a number of young people who are awaiting our team to assist them in building their project so that is going pretty well.”

The Youth Director urged young people to come on board since the projects they create and develop under the initiative will assist in the development of their respective communities.

In 2018, 21 groups and individuals were awarded grants to develop innovative solutions. Most of the projects are currently in their implementation stage while other creators are said to be securing relevant material to get their projects off the ground.

Some of the projects funded in 2017 included the building of a benab that provides a friendly space in the community of Kabakaburi, to facilitate the teaching of the Arawak dialect. Another was the cutting-edge training in garment construction provided to several young women and girls by the Building Bridges Foundation.

Carmichael-Hayes reminded that applications are available online on the department’s Facebook page or advertisements in the printed media. The closing date for applications is April 30.

Neola Damon.

Image: Ameer Sattaur.