Human development and hinterland advancement

Oct 13, 2019 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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(Excerpts from an address by H.E David Granger, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, to the National Toshaos’ Council Conference, 2019.10.07)
Development would be meaningless unless peoples’ lives improve. Human development is at the core to ensuring a ‘good life’. It recognises the importance of improving people’s lives – especially in the four fields of education, health, livelihood and social protection.
The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 1990 noted that:
“People are the real wealth of a nation. The basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. “
The ‘Report’ emphasised that education, health and decent standards of living are essential to the ‘good life.’ I add a fourth essential element – social protection.
Human development aims at ensuring the ‘good life’ for all. Indigenous people inhabit all 10 administrative regions, mainly in the hinterland. Human development must mean, therefore, hinterland development. Never before has a Government driven such a sustained thrust in hinterland development.
We believe in equal opportunities for all. We believe that, if Guyana is to become a more inclusive and equal society, hinterland human development is imperative – especially in education, health, livelihood and social protection – the four essential fields of endeavour.
Hinterland human development has improved appreciably over the past four years. Indigenous peoples are enjoying better access to education, public health, public information, public infrastructure, public security, public telecommunications and social security.
Progress in the four essential areas of human development – education, health, livelihood and social protection – is measurable but the persistence and gravity of social ills such as alcoholism, child labour, drug abuse, sexual abuse and teenage pregnancies – should not be allowed to derail progress on the path of development.
The eradication of these social ills and the elimination of extreme poverty require intensified cooperation among Regional Democratic Councils, the National Toshaos’ Council, Indigenous Village Councils and Central Government, particularly though the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ affairs.
Education
Education is a pillar of national development. Your Government has invested $170 B in public education with a further $52.2 B committed to 2019. Hinterland education has benefitted from its share of these investments. Hinterland education is being improved and expanded:
 Learning resource centres have been established in several regions – at Aishalton, Annai, Bartica, Kato, Lethem, Mabaruma, Monkey Mountain, Paramakatoi, Kamarang, Waramadong and Wauna. Smart classrooms have been installed at Bartica, Mabaruma, Lethem, Paramakatoi, Three-Miles and Santa Rosa.
 School-feeding programmes benefit more than 20,000 students, in some form, in 216 hinterland nursery and primary schools and annexes.
 The Public Education Transport Service is providing bicycles, boats and buses to transport hinterland children to school, including at Annai, Baracara, Coomacka, Mabaruma, Mahdia; Kwakwani, Mainstay-Whyaka, Queenstown, Riversview and for communities in the Lower and Upper Pomeroon River.
 Scholarships will be awarded to thirteen of this year’s top performers of the National Grade Six Assessment from the Rupununi Region by the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs. The number of hinterland scholarships has increased from 110 in 2014 t0 187 in 2018. Hinterland students, also, have been among the beneficiaries of the 1,599 tertiary-level scholarships offered by the Department of the Public Service since 2015.
 Residential services benefit two thousand, two hundred and forty secondary school students in four hinterland regions – the Barima-Waini, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Potaro-Siparuni and the Rupununi. I commissioned a G$186M Hinterland Student Dormitory, on 15th July 2019 at Liliendaal, to provide accommodation for 120 hinterland students pursuing tertiary education.

Health

Hinterland health services have been upgraded over the past four years and are being expanded further. Health clinics, which provide medical services to indigenous people, have been rehabilitated and upgraded.
Health professionals have been deployed to hinterland regions to boost health care delivery. Emergency health-care services have been improved with the addition of new water ambulances in riverine areas – at Baracara, Karawab, Kwakwani, Moruca, Orealla and St. Monica.
Hinterland communities have benefitted from increased vaccination and immunisation against preventable diseases. We have achieved a 90 per cent vaccination coverage to help fight preventable diseases. Malaria cases – most prevalent in the hinterland – have reduced from 17,599 reported cases from 2014 to 11,000 cases in 2018.
Improvements in potable water supply are helping to improve health by reducing the risk of water-borne diseases and enhancing sanitation. Water systems were, or are in the process of being, improved at Kamwata, Kanuku, Mabaruma, Matthew’s Ridge, Moco Moco, Port Kaituma, Quiko, Rupunau, Sand Creek, Shiriri, Shulinab, St Ignatius and White Water.
Livelihood
A good quality of life and decent standards of living for indigenous people can be assured by improved access to public services – such as public infrastructure, public telecommunications and public security. Your government has continued to narrow development gaps in the provision of these services.
The Hinterland Sustainable Agriculture Development Programme has improved food security through the expansion of hinterland agriculture and agro-processing in the Barima-Waini, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Potaro-Siparuni and in the Rupununi. Hinterland farmers have benefitted from the services provided by the programme.
The Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) and the Youth Entrepreneurship and Skills Training (YEST) programme have been stimulating jobs and entrepreneurship within indigenous communities. Jobs are important in providing incomes for households and in diversifying and stimulating village economies.
Hinterland infrastructure has been transformed over the past four years. More than 30 hinterland aerodromes have been rehabilitated to improve air transport links. A total of 350 km of hinterland roads have been rehabilitated and maintained. Roads have been upgraded in the four new capital towns – at Bartica, Mabaruma, Mahdia and Lethem. Works have been done to major roads linking Rockstone to Mabura, Kurupukari to Annai, and Linden to Mabura.
A new bridge was constructed across the Moruca River to replace the dilapidated structure. Other bridges have been built or repaired at areas including Papaya, Cassandra Crossing, Sand Creek, Aishalton, Paruima, Hosororo, Surama, Wakapao and Kwatamang.
Telecommunication connectivity has been improved in hinterland communities. ICT hubs have been established in 171 communities – including in Aishalton, Annai, Baramita, Bartica, Iwokrama, Kato, Karasabai, Masakenari, Port Kaituma, Mabaruma, Matthew’s Ridge, Mahdia, Paramakatoi, Sand Creek, Santa Rosa, St. Ignatius and Waramadong. ICT hubs are scheduled to be established at Kaikan, Jawalla, Phillipai, Paruima, Kako, Rewa, Surama, Toka and Wiruni this year.
Birth and death registration services have been extended by the Department of Citizenship. Legal services, including the registration of businesses have been extended through the creation of new magisterial districts in Upper Demerara and Rupununi, the commissioning of courts at Karasabai and Aishalton and the construction of a new magistrates court at Mahdia.
Business development will offer greater opportunities, including employment for people. Your government is working to expand business within our hinterland regions. It is establishing new business registration hubs in six of our Regions to make it easier to establish companies. Industrial estates are being developed at Lethem in the Rupununi and at Belvedere in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region.
A Frontier Villages’ Policy was unveiled in 2018 to counter the special vulnerabilities of border communities. The ‘Policy’ is helping to make hinterland border communities safe from attacks from ‘sindicatos’ and incursions by illegal miners and contraband smugglers. New police divisions have been established for the Barima-Waini, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Potaro-Siparuni and the Rupununi.
Social protection
Social protection is integral to human development. It is necessary to safeguard citizens and to ensure that they enjoy decent and dignified lives, free from abuse and deprivation.
The Ministry of Social Protection has been making interventions to improve hinterland social protection services, in collaboration with other government Ministries. The situation which we inherited in May 2015, was quite disturbing.
The Ministry of Social Protection in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) undertook a survey of women and children in Guyana in the period 2015-2016. I highlight some of the Report’s findings as they relate to indigenous women and children. The Report of the Study, entitled, A Situational Analysis of Children and Women in Guyana disclosed the following distressing facts:
 children living in indigenous communities have three times more chance of having diarrhoea than children from other parts of the country;
 children living in indigenous communities have the highest rate of acute respiratory infection and stunting of all ethnicities;
 four out of 10 indigenous children are believed to be involved in some form of child labour;
 six out every 10 indigenous children were not attending nursery school in 2014;
 one in every five indigenous boys and girls were not attending secondary school; and
 the highest incidence of poverty is to be found in the hinterland.
These and other social maladies could hamper the development of indigenous communities. The situation is serious and suggests urgent action and cooperation among all the stakeholders, including government and the National Toshaos’ Council. The Ministry of Social Protection has:
 intensified its anti-human trafficking campaign and taken steps to reduce labour violations in the mining sector;
 increased training and awareness education programmes to combat sexual offences and domestic abuse; and
 installed Child Advocacy Centres in six regions and will expand this to help combat child abuse.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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