Over 200 youths gained employment after completing USAID-funded programme

Over 200 youth were successful at getting jobs after completing the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Community, Family and Youth Resilience (CFYR) programme. This was revealed on Monday by US Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch at a closeout session aimed at recognising the programme’s contributions to Guyana, four years after its implementation.

The CFYR programme supported family networks, communities, service providers and Government agencies to implement successful approaches that reduce violence and increase opportunities for youth. It identified and worked with families and their youth who are empirically at the highest risk of becoming involved in crime and violence.
The programme assessed youth risk through the Youth Service Eligibility Tool (YSET), which measures risk across nine factors at a family, peer and individual level. Youth were matched with interventions based on their level of risk and these interventions sought to increase protective factors or resilience.
These initiatives include civic activities to build social and leadership skills, workshops to increase youth workforce readiness, community activities that promote positive youth-police contact, and campaigns to challenge those gender norms which contribute to an environment permissive of violence. The programme also reached youth at higher levels of risk—those who are leaving the juvenile justice system—with targeted support to improve their chances of reintegration.
During her remarks, Ambassador Lynch said, “I’ve had the pleasure of attending graduation ceremonies for youth who completed life and employment skills training and have listened to their elevator pitches – sometimes a bit shy, sometimes dynamic, but always purposeful. I’ve heard youth describe aspirations for themselves and seen their ideas for small businesses not only in Georgetown, but outside the capital too, for example in Corriverton.”
Throughout all these interactions, she pointed out that she has been struck by the aspirational visions these young men and women have for themselves and how the project has been able to work with over 400 young men and women in Guyana to build those visions and support attainment of their goals. According to her, over 200 of those youth were successful at getting new jobs.
Reflecting on the programme, Ambassador Lynch noted that it has been an inspiring experience. She revealed that working with families has been a centrepiece of CFYR.  Through the Family Matters initiative, she revealed that 160 at-risk youth and their families in Guyana, totalling over 600 individuals, benefitted from family counselling.
The Family Matters programme, according to her, was designed with the theory that youth resilience is tied closely to the resilience of the family unit. She explained that this is tied to academic research, which shows that improvements within the family system are linked with improved behaviour among at-risk youth.
“Essentially, better-performing families will mean better-performing youth. In CFYR’s final round of Family Matters, 81 per cent of the engaged youth in Guyana were assessed as having reduced risk factors. Like the family members, Government partners have recognised the value of this programme. Based on the evidence of its impact, the Guyana Government will continue to fund its existence and offer its services to families of at-risk youth,” the US envoy said.
Another important area of focus for the CFYR programme was Juvenile Justice Reform, Ambassador Lynch informed. She said that in Guyana, CFYR worked with the Office of Juvenile Justice, the Magistracy, youth rehabilitation facilities and other partners to support the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2018.
She noted that some activities focused on the youth rehabilitation facilities in Guyana – both the Sophia Holding Centre and the New Opportunity Corps – to improve rehabilitation and reintegration support for youth.  She noted further that the programme developed and/or revised key administrative and diagnostic tools.
She said, “Following training and monitoring of staff, these tools are now in use at both facilities and have improved their services and efficiency. CFYR also supported juvenile justice partners to establish an inter-agency working group that meets regularly, overseeing implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act.”
The US Ambassador continued, “Key CFYR partners like UNICEF, the Rights of the Child Commission, ChildLink and others, continue to provide their support to improve the rehabilitation and reintegration support for youth in contact with the law. We thank them for being excellent partners of ours and the people of Guyana.”
Having regards to the foregoing, Ambassador Lynch underscored that the CFYR programme has definitely left its mark and has provided valuable lessons of evidence-based methods to reduce crime and violence among youth, families and communities.
She added that the programme has also hosted knowledge-sharing forums, bringing together youth, Government representatives, the Private Sector and other non-Government partners to share lessons learned and best practices in violence prevention so that partners can improve their programmes.
The US Ambassador extended gratitude to many partners in Government, the Private Sector and non-Government sector who have consistently partnered with the US Government to do excellent work and looks forwards to continuing works to design and implement an impactful programme that reflects the priorities of the communities.
She assured that the US Government will continue to support resilient communities and has already planned to work with local organisations, locally-elected representatives and citizens to improve community governance and support a citizen-driven agenda for development.