GUYANA

Background

Youth make up a significant portion of the region’s population, as a group they are considered high risk for HIV/AIDS infection and substance abuse; marginalised, alienated and increasingly at risk for unemployment/under-employment, crime and violence, teen pregnancy and other social and economic ills. They are also seen to have moved away from traditional norms, values and beliefs resulting in them being taken for granted and by passed.

Young people are rarely involved in the political process and whenever they are it is often through relations with someone in the hierarchy of existing political structures. Recent statistics show that 83% of graduates from the University of Guyana migrate after graduation and 45% of Guyanese below the age of 35 would prefer to live outside of Guyana.

This has resulted in a lack of suitaly qualified or experienced youth to take up positions at the political level. Many youth are unaware of the importance of the political process and its implications for their daily lives. They have little or no opportunity to participate in decision-making, be it at the level of planning, implementing, managing and or following up on community or national policies and programmes.  They are therefore ill equipped to benefit from and contribute to the political process.

In addition the economic and political challenges facing Guyana has resulted in local communities suffering in many ways.  There is a view that young people below the age of thirty are mostly affected by these challenges and that increasingly they are the instruments and target of violence. They however given their “innocence” and their “openness” to new ideas and initiatives offer a valuable entry point for the resolution of these challenges and have the potential to play the role as agents of change

In this regard forty-five emerging young leaders across the political, ethnic, social and gender divide in communities with the lowest level of youth participation will be selected to participate in this project, which is intended to expose and prepare them to become active participants in the local government process. These leaders will benefit from training in understanding key governance challenges, transformative leadership, advocacy and participation in policy development, Conflict Transformation, Human Rights, Community Development and Cultural Sensitive Approaches. Upon completion of the training the youth leaders will then be required to return to their communities and develop projects in consultation with their mentors and regional offcials for implementation and in the process seek to motivate others to get involved in the the political process as well.

Objectives

This project aims to improve the capacity of youth leaders at the community level to become change agents for good governance practices.  It will engage 25 emerging youth leaders from five regions, aged 18-30, in a nine-month programme designed to build on their existing talent by way of training, mentoring networking and implementing community projects. When completed the selected regions will have a cadre of young leaders with enhanced skills to participate and influence the governance processes at the community level. The project seeks to:

• Strengthen the core institutions of democratic governance at the local level by infusing fresh young minds into the system throuh the participation in the democratic process;
• Empower youth leaders to become involved in the political process;
• Deepen local democracy by strengthening participation, accountability, empowerment and local ownership in the development processes;
• Youth as change agents in their communities and regions in community development;

Achievements and expected results

The programme is comprised of six training modules, at least 2 implemented through regional workshops. Participants must complete at least four of the six modules addressing topics, such as:

• Understanding key governance challenges;
• Transformative leadership;
• Advocacy and participation in policy development;
• Conflict Transformation;
• Human Rights; and
• Community Development