Eighteen residents of the South Central Rupununi in Region Nine recently completed a one-month skills training programme in the areas of needlework, fabric painting and capacity building.

The programme was undertaken by the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) and eight and ten participants from the Sawariwau and Katoonarib communities respectively graduated from the course, a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

Expert skills trainer, Badewattie Kandial said that the  course allows persons to acquire a skill and also become enlightened about development programmes, including HIV/ AIDS, domestic violence, rights of women and trafficking in persons (TIF). Since the project’s inception in 2007, Lethem has trained approximately 30 persons, Kandial stated.  The project will be undertaken in several other communities in Region Nine, she  noted.

BNTF is a poverty alleviation programme funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency.  The organisation has been in existence in Guyana since 1993, providing infrastructure, skills training and reaching out to the poor, the release added.