Women who reside in Bartica, Region Seven and Lethem, Region Nine, including those living with disabilities are set to benefit from a new energy diversification programme.
The programme is geared towards strengthening the energy sector and empowering women with knowledge thereof.
It is a joint initiative between the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) in collaboration with the Human Services and Social Security Ministry, Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to integrate women into the energy sector and will see some 200 women trained in Basic Solar PV Technology under the Women Empowerment in Energy Programme (WEEP).
Thus far, 32 women from Bartica and 40 women from Lethem commenced training with the launching ceremony held on Monday in the respective regions.
The women will be trained over the next three weeks for Basic Solar PV Technology, which will enhance their capacities in the emerging solar energy sub-sector and their Productive Use of Energy (PUE). The solar PV training consists of practical and theoretical aspects of PV repairs.
In addition, this is part of efforts to create working skills and build capacity in the areas of Lethem, Bartica and Madhia.
Chief Executive Officer of BIT, Richard Maughn said the objective is to ensure that women are given opportunities to participate in the energy sector just as their male counterparts.
“We are confident that you will be able to develop yourself, the skills, and the competencies to make you be able to use the knowledge, the information and the skill required over the next three weeks,” Maughn said.
Further, Maughn encouraged the participants to use the training and direct their knowledge toward creating a better life for themselves.
“It is not just about learning the theory, but it’s about you being able to have the relevant skills so that you can go out and make money and make a difference…Once, you have a skillset, you can make money from it. You can see your social and economic situations can change drastically if you are able to apply the skillset that you will be acquiring over the next three weeks…this is all about livelihood,” he said.
The Consultant of the IDB, Candace Ramessar was also present at Tuesday’s launching ceremony. She said that analysis was conducted to provide insight into how men are benefitting more than women in the energy sector in Guyana. This revealed that there was a huge disparity between the two genders as it relates to beneficiaries of the sector.
Noting that there shouldn’t be a disparity, Ramessar said, “We found that there’s a lag or there’s a deficit, or a difference between the way men are benefitting and the way women are benefitting and there’s really no reason for that. In Guyana, we have a national gender equality policy which says that we are working towards gender equality in sectors of the country.”
Ramessar also said that the programme is part of the government and the IDB’s policies and that there should be gender equality. This is part of the Sustainable Development Goal number five which speaks about gender equality in all sectors.
