Agricola community outreach tackles youth unemployment, health services

The newly-formed Agricola Development Association has already embarked on a thriving path, as it recently organised and hosted its first community outreach in the Greater Georgetown village.

Some of the agencies which provided support and made the outreach a reality include the Ministry of the Presidency; the Culture, Youth and Sport Department; the Public Health Ministry and several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
During the outreach held last weekend, a number of youths in the community were made aware of job opportunities as they were given the chance to interact with agencies such as Gafoors; Courts; the Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC) and the Guyana Prison Service among others on possible future related careers.
Meanwhile, free health services were offered at the Agricola Health Centre conducted by the Guyana Cancer Foundation, whose team provided free clinical breast examinations, glucose testing, blood pressure testing, and education on cervical cancer.
The Agricola Development Association was recently established to make Agricola sustainable for the youths and to educate and engage villagers about plans to develop the community.
At the outreach, Association President Timothy Blair underscored that youths within the community should be sensitised on available opportunities in order to take advantage of them.
“We want our young people in the community to be sensitised on the opportunities that are available. [This outreach] offers educational opportunities for the youths that might be interested in learning a skill, but don’t know how to access these services, and those who are looking to have jobs,” Blair stated.
Apart from these opportunities, residents of the community participated in a clean-up campaign coordinated by the Association. Blair noted, “This is a community thing and we want people in the community to recognise and understand that it is their role to participate in changing the face of this community.”