Human Services Minister opens two Resource Centres in Port Mourant

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud on Friday officially opened two Resource Centres – one for the elderly and sick and the other for Early Childhood Development – at the St Francis’ Headquarters Complex in Port Mourant, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

The Centres support training for job creation, youth and women empowerment, pre/play schools, remedial education, counselling, psycho-social support services and care for the elderly.

In addition, the Centres are part of the Spotlight Initiative, which provides a unique opportunity for the ministry and its international partners (European Union and United Nations) to address family violence as a major public health and development issue with significant ramifications at the individual, community and national levels.

Five priority areas of intervention for the Spotlight programme are (i) Sexual and Gender-Based Violence; (ii) School based Gender-Based Violence; (iii) Intimate Partner Violence; (iv) Incest/ early sexual initiation/ teen and pre-teen pregnancies; (iv) Forced sex by a family member or relative.

St Francis Community over the last three months has been executing a number of Spotlight Initiatives across Region 6 in two locations – United Bricklayers in New Amsterdam and at St Francis Headquarters in Port Mourant, Corentyne. (Press release from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security)