Focus on ‘holistic development’ of children, families – Pres Ali …as Guyana’s 1st $93.4M Day and Night Care Center opens

…facility to nurture children, support families around the clock

As part of efforts to create holistic and integrated development within communities and their residents, the Guyana Government on Thursday opened the first-of-its-kind Day and Night Care and Early Childhood Development Centre.
Located at Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara, the centre provides a combination of a 24-hour care facility for children up to 3 years and 9 months and also a space to foster early childhood development.
Staffed with trained carers, the centre has the capacity to hold 50 children for 8-hour shifts at a time.

According to President Irfaan Ali, who inaugurated the building on Thursday, the centre is more than just a care facility for children but also one that empowers Guyanese parents and ultimately, families.
“So, today’s initiative is about empowerment: giving parents who never had the opportunity to explore their professional possibility, adding to their disposable income… It’s about building equity in the system, giving everyone the type of support that is needed for the family to grow, for the community to grow…”
“If you look at the facility itself, it’s about an environment that is conducive for the development of the children. It’s about their mental development. It’s about the skills development, it’s about their educational development, and it’s about their value development. That is what this facility represents – the holistic development of the child and the family,” the Head of State noted.

Not drop and pick up
Similar sentiments were expressed by Human Services and Social Security Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud, who noted that the centre will not only tend to children’s needs but also offer parental support.
She said that the growing number of women in the local workforce has created the need for such a facility to support their ambitions.
“When we speak about day and night care, what is being melded there would be the dreams and needs of parents in our country… Women are now more in the labour force in our country. With that recognition…this [centre] was birthed from that, understanding that when parents go out to work, they want the assurance and guarantee that their children are absolutely safe…in a secure environment…”
“As a Government, we’re comprehensively looking at the child, and not only that child but also looking at their parents and the caregiving system. So, here will also have parenting classes so when parents come here for their children, it’s not drop [off] and pick up. We are working with parents.”
In fact, Persaud noted that there is a parenting manual and workbook already in place. In addition, not only is the programme being offered in communities across the country, but they are looking to amplify it through these centres.
Persaud recalled too that the idea of the centre, which is staffed with carers trained under the ministry’s Women’s Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN) programme, was birthed from the 2022 tragedy where three children – eight-year-old Timothy Kippins, six-year-old Triston Kippins and one-year-old Zhalia Flue – were killed in a fire. The siblings were left alone at their Lot 10 Field, Barnwell, Mocha, East Bank Demerara, home by their mother, who went to work.
“That [incident] cemented in my mind why we need night care,” Dr Persaud stated.
The minister further explained that they recognised there was a gap between the “zero to 3-years, 9-months” age group, and so in setting up this care centre, a hybrid model was conceptualised, with emphasis placed on both caregiving as well as the early childhood development aspect.
Currently, the Guyana Government has invested millions of dollars in its early childhood development programme and is leading the region in this regard.
“Using the early childhood policy and education and the knowledge we had, we wanted to make sure that when children are placed here, as a Government we’re comprehensively looking at that child’s development,” Persaud noted.

Creating an ecosystem
Meanwhile, President Ali outlined the ecosystem that would be created with this centre and other Government initiatives that could lead to the early detection of learning difficulties and/or even health risks among young kids. He said this would get rid of the old “slow learners-fast learners” system as well as produce healthier populations in the future.
“We have to create the ecosystem to ensure that everyone is in a learning environment, having that opportunity to learn continuously. The Center, of course, is a centre of empowerment, equity, development and support, because it will support the families. It creates a safety net for children, for families, for communities. It creates economic stability because families now don’t have to sacrifice…or reduce the economic well-being of the family by staying home or having to care for the children,” he stated.
With this first day and night care and early childhood development centre established in Region Three, the Government plans to construct similar facilities across the country.
“This Care Center is beautiful, but we have to build many care centres across the country as beautiful but less complex…because we want one of these set in almost every NDC [Neighbourhood Democratic Council]. When I say complex, it is not reduced service. It is about making more of the facilities available, because we want to reduce the time and cost for parents to bring their children here. We want to make it easier for the carers themselves, who are working day and night. So we’re going to work on filling out facilities like these in every NDC, and we’re going to work on upskilling our part-time workers [to be staffed there],” President Ali stated during Thursday’s commissioning ceremony.
The next Day and Night Care and Early Childhood Development Center is being constructed in Region Four to the tune of $94 million.