U.S. helps boost Guyana’s capacity to address youth violence

Last Updated on Tuesday, 3 December 2024, 19:03 by Writer

Fifty-five social service officers are now equipped with improved skills to address deviant behaviour and other challenges among youths, under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Youth Resilience, Inclusion and Empowerment (Y-RIE) project.

Those who received training included caregivers at juvenile detention facilities, guidance and counselling officers, probation and child protection officers, and community advocates.

U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot said the model of engaging deviant youths was transposed from Los Angeles, U.S., in the 1980s where little or no attention had been paid to youth problems by federal, state and local governments until there was an upsurge in gangs. She said the US used strategies similar to Y-RIE coupled with community policing. “I’m just very proud that our experience and our success in addressing it, that we’re able to take that and apply it here in Guyana, of course, with culturally specific tweaks to make it effective so our very negative experience and our ability to address it is something that we want to share with you and I’m so grateful that you’re so receptive,” she said. The U.S. and the Guyana Police Force, she said, were working on community policing initiatives especially in communities where violence is a problem especially with youths.

Last year, more than 80 social service providers were trained under the Y-RIE project, and also received individual coaching and on-the-job support to improve service delivery.

Country Director of USAID Y-RIE, Tiffany Daniels told the graduation ceremony that collective effort is needed to build an environment for all children to feel valued, safe and capable of overcoming their challenges. “I encourage you to carry the lessons you’ve learned into every interaction,” she said.

She emphasised that youths in difficult circumstances could not be regarded as “problems to be solved but individuals to be supported” by service providers and communities.

Ms Daniels promised that efforts would be made to respond to training and other needs by working closely with Guyana government partners to deliver the training to other service providers without USAID Y-RIE.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud emphasised the importance of paying attention to youths before they come into contact with the law, mindful of root causes of their challenges. They might include abuse and neglect, family dysfunction and violence, behavioural issues and negative peer influence. She said the trained social service providers would assist in enforcing the Juvenile Justice Act, even as government takes a multi-sectoral approach in tackling those problems. “All of our agencies are very integrated in the work that they do and we cannot have one without the other to really have the kind of collective response when we speak of youth at risk,” she said. Ms Persaud said youth friendly spaces would be opening doors across Guyana to allow the social service providers to reach out to youths.

Graduates were drawn from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Juvenile Justice Department, Ministry of Education’s Guidance and Counselling Department, and the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.