GGP funds education/special needs in St Ignatius

The Government of Japan, through its Grassroots Human Security Programme (GGP), recently held a closing ceremony for two education/special needs projects completed in St Ignatius, Central Rupununi.

The GGP offers grant funding to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other non-profit organisations in the Eastern Caribbean, including Guyana.
Through the aegis of the NGO Special Needs for Life Guyana and its Principal Executive Officer PEO), Mark Adams, the two projects were funded to two entities.
The Lethem Special Needs Group, headed by Yusa Xavier, received funding for the construction of a Multipurpose Centre at a cost of US$87,178 at St Ignatius and the St Ignatius Secondary School Electrification Project was also funded at a cost of US$90,000. The Electrification Project consisted of providing the school with solar panels, batteries, inverters, and controllers to provide support for the school’s electricity supply and security lighting and a solar well to augment the water supply at the school.

The projects were completed in June and July of 2016 and have been well received by the target communities in the central Rupununi.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Japanese emissary from the Embassy of Japan in Trinidad, which oversees the GGP in the eastern Caribbean, Shinichiro Kobayashi expressed the pleasure of the Government and people of Japan to be able to make a tangible contribution to the lives of grassroots Guyanese. Kobayashi spoke well of the bilateral relations between his country and Guyana and the cooperation that ensues between the two governments. He emphasised that projects such as these bolster the strong ties that exist between Japan and Guyana.
Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) Chairman Brian Allicock, who was on hand to deliver remarks at the ceremony, was profuse in his thanks to the Japanese for carrying out the two projects in the Region and highlighted the timeliness of these interventions in the lives of the Central Rupununi community.
In her closing remarks, Xavier, the head of the Lethem Special Needs Group as well as the Toshao of St Ignatius, Kuma and Quarrie in Region Nine, spoke to the gratitude of the people who were beneficiaries of the two projects and committed her Group to ensuring that the projects were well maintained and cherished.
Also on hand for the ceremony were: GGP Consultant in the Embassy of Japan Trinidad and Tobago, O’Neil Wills; Tatsuya Morita of Japan International Cooperation Agency in Guyana and Special Needs for Life Guyana PEO Mark Adams.