A total of 117 women from various West Coast Demerara villages and from East Bank Essequibo graduated from the “Livelihood development programme for rural women” yesterdayThis project trained the women for six months in catering and sewing and was put together by the Human Concern International (HCI) organization in collaboration with the National Committee on Sisters’ Affairs (NACOSA), which is the women arm of the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG).HCI is a registered charitable organisation in Canada, which provided partial funding of the project with the sum of $2.3 million.At the graduation exercise,St. Louis Blues Gear, which was held at the Tuschen Masjid yesterday, it was noted that the objective of the project is to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities and income generation to rural Guyanese women.It was explained that many of these women are marginalised, thus the effort is geared to create employment, and build the entrepreneurial skills as well as the self-confidence of the women.In her address to the gathering, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand said that now the women have been educated with skills, they must apply it in order to make their lives better.She pointed to the ongoing issue of domestic violence in the country, as according to her, Guyana is now in the time where some men are taking advantage of women, who most of the time are vulnerable and forced to stay in an abusive relationship because they have no job.“Too large a number of women are dying at the hands of the men who are supposed to love and protect them… Here it is that the men that we look to for help if we find ourselves in trouble, abuse us,” Minister Manickchand said.She emphasised the government’s commitment to do all they can to remove the difficulties from the lives of women and to an extension, children. Manickchand explained that the government alone cannot bring an end to domestic violence in the country, as she pleaded for the assistance of non-governmental organizations and religious bodies.While she commended the work of the CIOG, she urged the organisation to do more in order to improve the lives of Guyanese women.Meanwhile, Executive Director of HCI, Kaleem Akthar, noted that the entire organisation was established after he and his family saw the suffering of thousands of persons in the Middle East.He explained that the HCI is a lot about changing the lives of people and giving them an opportunity to improve it.
