“Capacity building for our population is key” – Harmon to GGGI delegation

Minister of State Joseph Harmon met with a delegation from the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), an international organisation of which Guyana is a founding member, that focuses on assisting countries to adopt new green models in their development and investment planning, formulate ‘green’ growth policies, build capacities for implementation of ‘green’ growth policies and mobilise finance for ‘green’ growth investments.
Since 2017, through a collaborative effort, GGGI has been assisting Guyana in the Scaling up of Renewable Energy Project and has been hosting workshops for the public and Private Sector to garner widespread involvement. Through the collaboration, the GGGI through its engineer/ consultant, David Fernandez has been assisting in the preparation of an Urban Sector Solar Energy Programme.
This programme is being designed to cater to both the commercial and industrial

companies and will see the installation of solar photovoltaic panels on identified companies. Funding for the execution of this project is also being sought through international financial institutions.
During the meeting on Friday, the two sides discussed the Urban Sector Solar Energy Programme, the Scaling Renewable Energy Programme, possible financing options and accessing Global Climate Funds (GCF) and the possible establishment of an office for the GGGI in Guyana.
Minister Harmon in his remarks to the group said in building capacity for the implementation of green growth policies, local content is most impactful when buttressed by a prepared and educated population. He noted that Guyanese must be equipped to take control of the development in their homeland. “In my view, local content can never progress unless you have the people being prepared to take their positive roles in society…
So, while [we] will legislate for local content, if we do not prepare our people to benefit from that legislation, then it is basically… a piece of paper that gives the companies obligations, but do not really create a real benefit for the people themselves… I believe that capacity building for our population is key through all of this –to the extent which we’re able to get assistance in preparing our population, educating them, training them, and bringing them up to a certain level [where] they can, in fact, take over [the] management… of some of these projects… [This] is critical to us in our own development,” he said.
Minister Harmon also said that Guyanese are eager to see more tangible benefits of ‘green’ living and it is therefore important that moves are made in a positive direction as soon as possible.
The meeting was also attended by Director of the Department of Environment, Ndibi Schwiers; Liaison Officer Sandra Britton; Project Manager of the Office of Climate Change, Gavin Bovell; Senior Energy Engineer, Investment and Policy Solutions Division, GGGI, Muharrem Askin; Investment Officer, Green Investment Services, Charlotte Chow; and Director and Head of Programmes, Large Emerging Economies, Green Growth Planning and Implementation, Dr Chanho Park.