The National Working Group (NWG) on Public Private Partnership for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on Wednesday outlined several projects it has facilitated since its establishment in 2005.

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release the NWG was born out of the first Caribbean Regional Initiative meeting held in Guyana in June 2005. It was based on the recognition that governments alone cannot achieve the MDGs and as such it sought ways to involve civil society in realising them. The NWG operates with a US$26,000 grant from the government and the United Nations Development Programme. The grant is to assist with administrative costs.

GINA said the NWG was tasked with promoting the private sector as a key development partner with government to achieve the MDGs; to provide support and guidance for the implementation of viable projects that emerged from the Caribbean MDG Business Initiative 2005 with special focus on partnerships between government, private sector, civil society and/or the international community. It was also charged with supporting and guiding new initiatives stemming from private sector partnerships that lead to the realisation of the MDGs while maintaining profit.

In giving a background to the NWG’s activities Major General (ret’d) Joseph Singh said it started its work by determining which agencies involved in development projects could contribute to reaching the MDGs. He said, “We set about to analyze the work that was being done and where we could have helped, whether mentoring or partnering with private sector agencies or aspects of marketing, training, capacity building or access to micro finance funding.”

Singh said after meeting several groups countrywide and preparing a database the NWG and the agencies supported projects designed to create jobs and improve livelihoods. One of the groups to have benefited, the Blue Flame Women’s Group from the North West District, Region One, produces peanut butter under the brand North West Organics. The Pegasus Hotel has since committed to buying all the peanut butter the group produces. The NWG also collaborated with the Guyana Water Incorporated in response to a request from the Office of the President, to enhance the technical knowledge and competence of shallow well operators for Region Nine communities. This collaboration aimed at allowing communities to manage their own water resources. It is expected to be replicated in other communities.

In its alliance with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Kuru Kururu Farmers Association, the NWG committed resources to supply equipment and training to launch a honey/fruit production drive within the community where the farmers produce honey and fruits. Recently, resources were also committed to Empretec Guyana to train persons in the agro-processing field about the marketability of value-added products.

Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira, who is also a member of the NWG, said Guyana is the only country to have established a working group stemming from the June 2005 meeting. She said the meeting had agreed that NWGs were to be created throughout the Caribbean to facilitate projects leading to the realisation of the MDGs.

According to GINA Go-Invest CEO Geoffrey DaSilva, Executive Director at the Private Sector Commission Lakeram Singh, Executive Director at the Institute of Private Enterprise Development Leslie Chin, Elizabeth Deane-Hughes and Ambassador Rudy Collins are among the membership of the NWG. Roger Rogers is the coordinator of the NWG. The NWG is set to close in 2010.