One Guyana Digital Programme empowers graduates to drive innovation in tech, transform communities

The Government of Guyana has announced a significant breakthrough for graduates of the One Guyana Digital Programme, which will offer them access to high-paying jobs in the tech sector.
On Tuesday, the first cohort that completed the eight months of rigorous training presented their solutions to President Dr Irfaan Ali at State House.
The apps developed leverages technology to tackle waste management, provide secondary school students with an innovative solution to be quizzed using the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) pass papers and a digital companion for the elderly, which will monitor their physical health and contact emergency authorities in the event of an incident, among others.
The first cohort of 365 students were equipped with the skills to develop websites and mobile applications through the groundbreaking Nearshore Training Diploma Programme, which taught them to create dynamic databases for data retrieval, ensuring they can build robust, innovative technology solutions.
During his address to the gathering, President Irfaan explained that in the next phrase of the programme, the graduates will receive career coaching, helping them to build strong Curriculum Vitae (CV) and prepare for interviews.
According to the Guyanese Leader, they are guaranteed job titles as Junior Software Developers, Front End Designers and Mobile App Developers with employers such as banks, insurance companies and commerce companies.

“So, this is the beauty of the programme. After the certification, it then goes into working with you to building your CVs. Then it gives you the coaching for the interviews. Then it lands you the interviews. And then it delivers you the jobs. And, of course, you have the opportunity also to go on your own and be all that you can be. So, I want you to encourage others also to be a part of the programme. We are now trying to recruit another thousand to be a part of the programme,” the Guyanese Leader shared.
The Head of State praised the graduates as trailblazers, noting that their work would not only contribute to Guyana’s digital transformation but also expand into the Caribbean.
“… very soon you will see it launch in the whole of CARICOM. You will have colleagues from all of CARICOM being part of it. We said before that our prosperity and whatever we are able to open up, we want it to be accessible to all of CARICOM,” he added.
Also providing remarks at Tuesday’s demonstration exercise was Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh, who encouraged the participants to seek new and improve ways to further advance their developments.
Referencing the success of digital developers like Larry Page and Sergey Brin as well as Mark Zuckerberg, Singh highlighted that through the initiative Guyana has the opportunity to significantly transform its global digital footprint.
“You know, we hear about great apps being developed around the world. We hear about apps like Uber, we hear about apps like Facebook and social media platforms. And many of these were really developed by young students working in a garage somewhere, or in their parents’ home, or in their student room at university. Many of these apps today are global billion-dollar enterprises and were developed by young teenagers or young adults, literally applying their own creativity, their own technical skills, developing something that met a particular need that they perceived, testing it with their friends, finding opportunities to refine it, and then growing it into what today, in many cases, have become global brands that we recognise. And we saw this morning a demonstration of what can be achieved in terms of acquisition of technical skills with the opportunity that President Ali has created through this initiative,” the Senior Minister explained.
The One Guyana Digital Programme was launched in February of this year, with a $9.5 million investment from the Canadian Government and offers participants a chance to delve into live and online classes, facilitated by Toronto Metropolitan University.
The programme aims to address gender disparity, with over 60 per cent of applicants being women and 20 per cent from Indigenous communities. Additionally, it is poised to combat unemployment and alleviate poverty within the country.