A Violence Prevention Programme was launched on Friday by the programme implementation unit of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Citizen Security Pro-gramme (CSP) in an effort to create safer neighbourhoods.
This initiative falls under the Community Action Component (CAC) of the CSP, particularly targeting disadvantaged youths, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee in his feature address said that in a developing country like Guyana with its share of social and economic problems, programmes of this nature are badly needed and should be supported as far as possible.
He noted that the fundamental objective of the CAC is the creation of safer communities in which people are able to work and co-exist without fear of criminal acts, but this is yet to be achieved.
At the media launch at the Grand Coastal Inn, Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara, Rohee said that the violence programme, whether it takes the form of seminars or workshops, must not be seen in isolation from the other sub-components of the CAC, which includes skills and vocational training programmes and the rapid impact project among others.
And unlike the skills training programme, which is specifically tailored to suit the needs of a specific group of young people, the violence prevention programme is a much more broad-based as it includes the entire neighbourhood, not just youths.
Youths who have already graduated from the skills training programme are also a part of this violence prevention initiative, the release added.
Meanwhile, Rohee warned against stereotyping and said that not because an individual comes from a certain community means that he/she is a criminal or a social deviant; likewise not because a person is a school dropout means that he/she is doomed to fail in all future endeavours.
He told the consultants who are tasked with implementing the programme in the various communities that, “you are making a positive contribution but there are other things that have to be done in terms of economic and social interventions which will lead to the creation of job opportunities…and government has responsibilities that it is committed (to) fulfilling in this regard.”
