FORUM ON EFFECTIVENESS & SOLIDARITY
Some eighty people representing fifty civil society organizations from Georgetown, coastal areas and hinterland attended the one-day workshop organized by the Forum on Effectiveness and Solidarity (FES) on Thursday April 15. At the end of the day consensus was reached to follow-up on the following four major issues:
Reinforce national awareness of the challenge of diversity
Address widespread sense of Powerlessness in the Society
Promote Social Cohesion at Community Level
Encourage Independent Youth Action
An interim Committee was established to take the next steps in developing an action programme on the Priority Issues. The next stage will consist of reviewing each of the Priority issues in terms of action needed in the areas of the vision and appropriate values; public policy; community action and leadership strategies.
These conclusions followed a day of discussions that began with no paper, no presentations and no agenda. At the inaugural session all participants proposed issues for discussion sessions. Fifteen of the twenty-one topics were then voted for inclusion in the agenda. Topics included the ‘role of religion’, ‘addressing powerlessness and poverty’, ‘role of the media’, ‘acknowledging victims’, ‘strategies to reduce racial violence’, ‘identifying positive side of racial issues’ and ‘politicians and race’.
For most of the day participants moved around in the
‘market-place’ of ideas, choosing which discussions they wished to
attend. At the end of each discussion a one-page report was completed
and photocopied for inclusion in a file. Prior to entering the final
session at which priorities were decided, all participants received a
file containing the summaries of each discussion and a listing of the
organizations which took part in the discussion. A complete list of
contact information for all organizations in the workshop was also
included.
Click here for the List of
Priority Issues identified
Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Clerical & Commerical Workers’ Union (CCWU), Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), Guyana Postal & Telecoms Workers Union (GPTWU), Red Thread, Rights of Children (ROC), Youth in Development, YMCA-Linden
Contact info: GHRA Tel. Nos: 226-1789/227-4911