Youth empowerment mentorship initiative launched in Berbice

Three youth empowerment mentorship programmes have been launched on Saturday in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), bringing to five the total number of this particular initiative of the Men on a Mission (MOM) in Guyana.
One of these mentorship programmes was launched in New Amsterdam, another was launched at Hampshire on the Lower Corentyne Coast, and the third was launched at Linepath, Corriverton, on the Upper Corentyne Coast.
This Men on a Mission (MOM) programme was first launched in Georgetown, before being taken to Lethem in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). Three others have now been launched in Region Six, and these programmes work in collaboration with the private sector.
Chief Coordinator of the MOM programme, Lieutenant Colonel Bhageshwar Murli, has said the initial programme is proving successful, hence there is need to have it rolled out in every region.

“This programme will offer regular one-on-one meetings, group activities, and workshops to facilitate growth and learning opportunities (for mentees). We are excited about this programme. By connecting our citizens to supportive role models, the aim is to instill confidence, inspire ambition, and foster personal and professional development,” the senior military official has said.
He added that one of the goals that are hoped to be realised through this youth empowerment mentorship programme is to see youths being equipped with positive habits, skills, and the requisite knowledge to navigate the challenges life poses. It is also hoped that participants would be put in positions to seize opportunities available within the country.
In the two programmes already established in Regions Four and Nine, participants are given assistance with their homework every afternoon of every school day, and with school work they might not have been able to grasp fully in class.
Region Six Chairman David Armogan, also speaking at the launch of the program at the Smithfield Drop-in Centre in New Amsterdam, pointed out that MOM has been very active in Region Six.

He pointed out that the programme allows youngsters to be exposed, not only to academic training in English and Mathematics, but also,
“What we find in the school system is that there is the capacity for children passing English and Mathematics at the CSEC examination and at the National Grade Six Examination, and so we want to bring people up to scratch and ensure that they can write these exams and pass them. Besides the academic training, there are many other forms of training that they will be exposed to: entrepreneurial training, training to do with how you operate in society, your role as a citizen and your role as a young person,” Armogan explained.
Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat explained that the MOM initiative has been adding to what the Government has been doing. He noted that youths need to take advantage of the vast number of opportunities available in Guyana.
“If you don’t take advantage of the opportunities and grab them, one day you are going to sit by yourself and say that you are unlucky, and you will look at somebody else who is successful and say he is lucky. I do not believe in any such thing as being lucky and unlucky,” Minister Bharrat explained.
He said those who sit and do not make strides are lazy.
“They are the ones who look at the opportunities and turn their faces away. Those are the ones who, rather than go and build a professional career or acquire an education, prefer to sit at home idle; and then afterwards they would say that are unlucky, and they would look at the person who grabbed that opportunity to become successful and say that he is lucky,” Minister Bharrat explained.
MOM was established in October 2022 with the objective being to influence behavioural change among men who have not been living up to their social and other responsibilities. This initiative was the brainchild of President Dr Irfaan Ali.