Guyana to host Regional Centre for persons with disabilities
Plans for the establishment of a Regional Training Centre for young persons with disabilities moved a step forward last Thursday, with the signing of an agreement by the implementing parties.
Caricom Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, along with Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, and Cuba’s Ambassador to Guyana, Julio Cesar Gonsalez Marchante, signed a Tripartite Cooperation and Technical Assistance Agreement at a ceremony held at the Caricom Secretariat, Turkeyen, Georgetown, Guyana. The Agreement is for the establishment of a “Regional Training Centre for Development and Stimulation of Children, Adolescents and Young People with Special Educational Needs Associated with Disabilities.”
Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, Caricom Secretary General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, and Cuba’s Ambassador to Guyana Julio Cesar Gonsalez Marchante, signed a Tripartite Cooperation and Technical Assistance Agreement at a ceremony held at Caricom Secretariat
Guyana will be home to the Regional Centre, which will use Cuba’s extensive experience to assist Caricom Member States to meet the special education needs associated with disabilities.
The project evolved out of a proposal at the fifth Caricom-Cuba Summit two years ago that Cuba would cooperate with Caricom to create a Training Centre for the Treatment of Physical Disabilities to assist physically challenged children and youth. That Caricom-Cuba summit came a year after a high-level Ministerial meeting in Haiti in 2013 where the Petionville Declaration recommended specific national and regional actions to address the needs of People with Disabilities.
“This project emphasises the interest of all parties to address a very important social and humanitarian challenge facing the Region. It aims to use Cuba’s extensive experience in this area to assist Caricom Member States in improving the lives of a vulnerable sector of our population,” Caricom’s LaRocque said at the signing ceremony.
He continued: “As we celebrate Caricom-Cuba Day on this 8 December, we do so in honour of one of the architects of this observance. With the recent passing of His Excellency Fidel Castro Ruz, OCC, Cuba has lost a national icon and the Caribbean Community has lost a true friend.”
President Castro’s commitment to assist developing countries through the sharing of his country’s skills and expertise, made him such a treasured ally of the Region, LaRocque said, that he was the only non-Caricom recipient of the highest award, the Order of the Caribbean Community.
The Secretary General said thousands of Caricom citizens have benefitted in many ways from Castro’s dedicated friendship and that of the Cuban people to the Community.
Two years ago, in Havana at the Fifth Caricom-Cuba Summit, it was proposed that Cuba would cooperate with Caricom in nine specific areas, including “the creation of a Training Centre for the Treatment of Physical Disabilities to assist physically challenged children and youths.”
That Summit followed the year after Caricom held a High-Level Ministerial Meeting in Haiti in 2013 to address the needs of People with Disabilities and Special Needs. The Petionville Declaration, issued by the Meeting, outlined specific recommendations for action at both the regional and national levels to move towards a more inclusive and equitable society and to serve the vulnerable group of citizens more effectively.
According to the Secretary General, Caricom undertook then, to improve their access to social services and support employment opportunities, sports, recreation and cultural activities, thereby promoting inclusion, while supporting their aspirations to become productive citizens of their communities.
“We also committed to promoting within our homes, schools and communities, a greater awareness of the needs of children and youth with disabilities. We agreed to develop and implement measures to ensure continued improvement in the home, the school and the community that assured their equal right to education and participation.”
The Regional Training Centre for Development and Stimulation of Children, Adolescents and Young People with Special Educational Needs Associated with Disabilities will go some way towards fulfilling the objectives laid out in that Declaration.
He said the project emphasises the interest of all parties to address a very important social and humanitarian challenge facing the Region. It aims to use Cuba’s extensive experience to assist Caricom Member States in improving the lives of our vulnerable population.
