Local civil society network Policy Forum Guyana (PFG) on Thursday announced the launch of its advocacy training kit, dubbed “Living In Harmony With Nature & Society.”
In a statement, PFG said the kit contains a manual on freshwater as well as an advocacy manual geared to primary tops, secondary and young adults, and addresses themes such as the environment, sexual violence, epidemics and fairness and protection.
PFG added that the advocacy manual is oriented more specifically towards indigenous young people, with the aim of highlighting that integration between coastal life and interior communities is drawing the younger generation progressively into coastal habits, values and ways of doing things. “This is true both for young people studying on the coast, as for those who remain in their communities as a result of better roads, social media, mining and forestry as well as tourism,” it explained.
“While better health and education and job opportunities may result, the cost of the ‘integration’ process is also to be calculated in terms of undermining traditional indigenous values and lifestyles. Young indigenous people find themselves at crossroads: what to embrace and what to resist?” it added.
According to PFG, the manual is a contribution in helping with that discernment, providing educators, youth leaders, indigenous organizations and faith-based groups with tools to encourage wise decision-making for the protection of the well-being of communities.
It said the manual contains examples of effective activism by communities, indigenous organizations and other non-governmental and governmental agencies over the past decades. Another guiding principle in the selection of materials, it added, was the inclusion of lesson plans addressing relationships: with the natural environment; inter-personal relations; relations with strangers and inter-generational relations. Materials used
effectively in combatting earlier epidemics of malaria and alcoholism in indigenous communities are also included, in light of the on-going effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PFG noted that the kit emerged from the work undertaken over three years under the auspices of the World Wildlife Fund’s “Shared Resources Joint Solutions” programme.
In addition to recognizing the support of the World Wildlife Fund and the International Fund for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), PFG expressed its appreciation to a number of local agencies. It noted that the Science Advisor to the National Centre for Education Research and Action (NCERD) provided valuable guidance with respect to the freshwater manual, while teachers from Graham’s Hall, Eccles and Seafield Primary school assisted in reviewing the appropriateness of the materials for primary schools. The advocacy kit, it added, benefitted from materials produced by Rights of Children (ROC), the East Coast Clean-Up Committee, the Guyana Human Rights Association and the Upper Mazaruni Christian Council.
PFG said hard copies of the kit are limited in number but a soft copy is available on the PFG website (https://www.policyforumgy.org/), which any interested person is welcome to access.
PFG describes itself as a network of civic organizations that came into existence in 2015 with the general aim of strengthening electoral, environmental, and financial accountability. Its membership comprises some 22 organizations that include trade unions, indigenous women; youth, transparency, and faith-based organizations active in Guyana.
