Eleven villages and satellites in the Santa Rosa, Moruca Sub-District, Barima/Waini, Region One are benefitting from a four-day Village Improvement Plan (V.I.P) workshop, an initiative being executed under the Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) which is aimed at building sustainable village economies.

The cabinet approved SDF has been rebranded and is now known as the Sustainable Indigenous Villages and Communities Policy.

The V.I.P was launched on Tuesday in Santa Rosa, Moruca.

Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Valerie Garrido-Lowe in the feature address to village leaders, councilors and residents said “indeed, if you are honest with yourselves you will admit that there has been a drought of sustainable plans for some years now in Santa Rosa. And even if the great ideas were there, the will and skill needed to implement have been lacking for some time now”.

In emphasizing the need for villages to formulate V.I.P’s, the Minister said “many villages do not have plans for the future so we are going to help you strengthen your economies. We need to make plans that would last us for years to come – sustainable plans. Not plans that will change with the election of new Toshao’s. We need the people to get on board with these long-term plans – not just a Toshao and a few Councilors.  This is the only way we will continue to move forward”.

Special emphasis was placed on two major projects that will soon be executed in the Region that of the Coffee Project in Santa Rosa and the Cassava Flour Project in Kwebanna.

The establishment of a bakery is also a potential economic driver and with many benefits to be derived from the soon to be blooming Oil Sector, the Minister said “now is the time to prepare ourselves and our community to benefit”.

She pointed out key areas that should be considered for inclusion in the respective V.I.P’s among them education, culture, health, governance, livelihood, nature and environment and economic diversification.

Special mention was made of the support received from Conservation International Guyana which has been and continues to be a key partner in rolling out the V.I.P’s which to date has made significant strides in Region 9 (Rupununi).

Forty percent of the villages and satellites in that region have completed their V.I.P’s with another forty percent to be completed by the end of next month.

Similar results are expected when the program is rolled out countrywide.

Meanwhile, also partnering with the Ministry was the Canadian High Commission through Geophysicist and former Chief of the Bear Clan (Canada’s First Peoples) Glenn Nolan sharing pertinent information with residents.

Chief Nolan who is on his maiden journey to Guyana is also a key figure in Canada as it relates to mining and the indigenous people there.

Geophysicist and former Chief of the Bear Clan (Canada’s First Peoples) Glenn Nolan addressing the gathering.

In sharing his experience Nolan said his community ventured into mining in the 40’s as an opportunity and today there are many success stories to be told.

He said “we didn’t have all the conveniences that we have today so we started off working in mining as laborers, some of our people had little or no education, they worked with the company to get their education so that they can become trades people whether welders, mechanics or electricians and they became the role models for the next generation which is my generation”.

He stressed the necessity of educating the young ones in schools about areas of studies that are relevant to the communities and the country, one being environmental studies, especially since Oil has been discovered and mining is also done.

He added that based on what he was able to see from his visit, the area has tremendous potential and he will be looking forward to returning to see the strides the villages were able to make.

Meanwhile, the Village Improvement Plan was designed to support the indigenous people by improving their well-being as Guyana pursues a green, diversified and resilient economic development path.

The V.I.P is among several innovative projects on stream in pursuit of the Green Agenda.