G$87.7M EU funding for ChildLink

Ambassador Jernej Videtič, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Guyana and Omattie Madray, Managing Director of ChildLink signed a grant contract to implement a project titled “Recovery, Safeguarding and Reintegration”.

The objective of the project is the adoption of international guidelines and policy for children’s reintegration in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] for 749 children living in institutions and 2500 children at risk of institutional care in Guyana, a press release from the EU noted today.

The grant involves the support of a maximum of   GY$87.7 Million and will be funded from the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) 2017 country allocation for Guyana. The project will run for the next 30 months.

According to the release, ChildLinK has been working collaboratively with the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) for the past ten years and has launched the Child Rights Alliance (CRA) with funding from the European Union to strengthen child protection services to prevent abuse and increase care of children across Guyana.

“The Recovery, Safeguarding and Reintegration (RSR) initiative extends protection services and places emphasis on institutional strengthening of the CPA, Children’s Institutions and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to improve reintegration services for 749 children living in institutions across Guyana. This is a fundamental right of children in line with the UNCRC, Art. 9 & 18 which clearly state that children have a right to live with their parents or a safe family,” the release noted.

In brief remarks during the signing, Ambassador Videtič highlighted that “Human Rights are one of the core values of the European Union and its Member states. The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights provides the possibility to support civil society projects in this area also in Guyana. The rights of vulnerable groups, especially children are particularly important in this regard and this fifth ChildLinK proposal convinced us again.”

ChildLinK Inc, a local Non-Governmental Organisation, was established in the year 2009 and its mandate is to work with its partners towards a Guyanese society where every child has the right to grow up in a safe and secure family and community. ChildLinK Inc. has previously received four (4) grants totalling over GY$200 Million all funded from the aforementioned EIDHR initiative.

The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) is a self-standing financing instrument that provides assistance for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide and specifically aims at assisting civil society to become an effective force for political reform and defence of human rights.