SECTION 5: Aspects of the Human Condition

Introduction

In this Section we examine four major areas of the human condition in Guyana: the labour market, the indigenous peoples, women's issues and the provision of basic services to the community (water, electricity, sanitation and housing).

i) The Labour Market

There is a well established relation between wage employment, self-employment and SHD in Guyana, as indeed elsewhere. The provision of jobs and opportunities for self employment are together the single largest contributor to the welfare of families and households. An appreciation therefore, of the status of labour markets in Guyana is an obviously important aspect of a Human Development Report. This Section provides this, and also focuses on the training and skills level of the labour force as an important means of enhancing the contributions of the labour market to SHD.

Structure and Organization

There are three primary sources of information on labour markets in Guyana, the 1980 and 1991 Population Censuses, the Labour Market Survey conducted in 1986, and the HIES/LSMS surveys of 1992/93. Most of our reporting is based on these sources.

 The labour force participation rate in 1992 was approximately 60 percent, up from 52 percent in 1980 and 58 percent in 1986. The participation rate for women grew from 25 percent in 1980 to 39 percent in 1992. Overall, 32 percent of the population was in the labour force and women constituted only 26 percent of the total labour force.

Between 1980 and 1992 there was a rapid expansion in self-employment, rising from 18 percent of those employed to 40 percent. Waged employment was 52 percent of total employment in 1992, down from 80 percent in 1980.

In 1980 about 69 percent of the salaried jobs was in the public sector, reflecting the tremendous expansion of the state sector referred to in Section 2. By 1992 this figure was down to 50 percent. There was an absolute decline in total numbers of about 40 percent, reflecting the sharp contraction of the state sector which began in the late 1980s. By 1992 the private sector offered slightly more jobs than the public sector and accounted for just over one-half of the salaried employment.

The expansion of private sector jobs was not large enough and income levels not sufficiently attractive to compensate for the decline in public sector jobs, and the rise in self-employment observed was the outcome. These data are shown in Table 5.1.

 Table 5.1: Employment Structure (% distribution)

Source: Population Census 1980 and HIES,1992.

Occupational Structure

The leading sectors in which persons worked in 1992 were agriculture (30 percent), commerce (16 percent) and manufacturing (11 percent). A decade earlier in 1980, the leading sectors were

agriculture, Government and manufacturing. Between 1980 and 1992 commerce expanded its employment at an annual rate of over 14 percent. Agriculture grew at 4.4 percent per annum. It is significant that the other rapidly growing sub-sectors in terms of employment created were in the category "other services" e.g., financial (14 percent) and miscellaneous services (4 percent).

Despite the major role played by mining in earning export income over this period, it accounted for only 4 percent of employment in 1992, slightly above what obtained in 1980. These data are shown in Table 5.2.

Table 5.2: Employment Structure by Sectors

Sector	1980 (%)	1992 (%)	Annual Rate of Growth
Agriculture, Fishing, Hunting & Forestry	48,603 (25.2%)	74,038 (30.2%)	4.4
Mining & Quarrying	9,389 (4.9%)	9,836 (4.0%)	0.4
Manufacturing	27,939 (14.5%)	27,504 (11.2%)	-0.1
Electricity, Gas & Water	2,772 (1.4%)	2,607 (1.1%)	-0.5
Construction & Installation	6,574 (3.4%)	10,116 (4.1%)	4.5
Commerce	14,690 (7.6%)	39,806 (16.2%)	14.2
Transport, Storage & Communication	9,160 (4.3%)	12,623 (5.1%)	3.2
Finance, Insurance & Real State	2,878 (1.5%)	7,598 (3.1%)	13.7
Government	29,249 (15.2%)	18,092 (7.4%)	-3.2
Community Services	13,899 (7.2%)	14,615 (6.0%)	0.4
Other Services	14,899 (7.2%)	20,724 (8.4%)	3.8
Not Stated	13,215 (6.9%)	7,933 (3.2%)	-3.3
Total	192,636 (100%)	245,492 (100%)	2.3

Source: 1980 - Population Census Report; 1992 - HIES.

The ethnic patterns to these data are revealing. Afro-Guyanese are more concentrated in regularly salaried employment (67 percent) than are Indo-Guyanese (56 percent). In relation to

occupational structure the ratio of Indo-Guyanese to Afro-Guyanese is about 3.5:1 in agriculture and 1.5:1 in commerce. In Government the position is reversed as the ratio of Afro-Guyanese to Indo-Guyanese was found to be about 2.8:1.

The data from the 1992 survey suggest that salaried jobs offer a broader occupational distribution than self-employment. One reason for this is that much of the self-employment is in agriculture.

 Unemployment

The rate of unemployment in Guyana while low by Caribbean standards is in fact unacceptably high. In 1992 this represented about 12 percent of the labour force. The age variations in unemployment are particularly striking. Among youth aged 15-19 years, the unemployment rate was 37 percent, while those 20-24 years had a rate of 20 percent. No other age group exceeded the national average. The sex variations were also quite marked. Just over 18 percent of females were unemployed, while the rate for men was just over 8 percent. By location, rural unemployment was even higher for females (over 19 percent). These data are shown in Table 5.3.

Table 5.3: Unemployment by Sex and Location 1992

Source: HIES, 1992

The ethnic distribution of unemployment is also quite skewed. While overall the unemployment rate was just under 12 percent, among Afro-Guyanese the rate was nearer to 14 percent, and for Indo-Guyanese slightly below the national average. For the two problem age groups 15-19 and 20-24 the rates were respectively, for Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese, 44 percent versus 36 percent, and 24 percent versus 18 percent.

Analytical Inferences

There are a number of analytical inferences which can be drawn from these data, which are helpful to our understanding of develop-ments in Guyana, and which also highlight the difficulties in promoting SHD. Among these are:

• The outcome for participants in the labour force is far too highly dependent on age, sex, ethnicity and location. Labour is not a homogeneous product in the market place. The market is biased against women and youth, and women in rural areas. There is considerable inequality.
• While the contraction of state employment appears to have had a most calamitous impact on employment opportunities generally, its impact on Afro-Guyanese youth appears to have been particularly marked. This reinforces the observation in Section 2 of the importance of ethnic balance in the promotion of economic activities.
• The contraction of state employment has not only impacted itself on overall employment and the Afro-Guyanese work force heavily concentrated there, but it seems also to have narrowed the range of occupational opportunities for the entire work force.
• The unemployment rates of the earlier surveys were all higher than in 1992. In 1980 it was 17 percent and 1986, 13 percent. This decline in open unemployment should be related, however, to the significant rates of under-employment. In the 1992 survey the data showed that rural workers who were in households below the poverty line were employed on average less than 14 days per month. Poor self-employed farmers worked only 3.1 days per month.

Wages

There are no firm data on wages, apart from the national minimum wage fixed by the Government. In 1996 this minimum wage was in absolute terms low, the equivalent of US$2.98 per day. The minimum wage has grown significantly since 1990, but the present (1996) figure is still only two-thirds that in 1980, when the then US equivalent was US$4.52.

Table 5.4 shows both the nominal and real values of the minimum wage. While the nominal values have increased sharply since 1990 the real value of the minimum wage over the period 1980-1996 is still at the 1980 level.

Table 5.4: Nominal and Real Minimum Wage

1980 - 1996 (end of year)

Note: * US dollar equivalent

Source: Calculated from official data

There is also a great disparity between wages in the private sector and public service. The differentials have been reported as much as five to six times higher in the private sector for many categories of the work force. Indeed this gap has become so serious that it is now acknowledged as a major impediment to improved performance in the public sector (See Box 5.1). The Government's response has been to institute a number of ad hoc arrangements providing for "special" pay to targeted categories of public employees which are felt to be in "critical demand". These include categories like nurses, teachers, employees in revenue gathering agencies, and returning migrants.

It would not be surprising to observe that many of the wage problems in Guyana today can be attributed to the effects of the long period of decline in economic activity which took place in the 1970s and 1980s along with the serious price inflation which accompanied it, which we examined in Section 2. As we noted there, in order to correct this situation structural adjustment policies aimed at reducing public sector employment and curtailing public sector spending were put in place. These policies were aimed at deliberately influencing the course of wage and salary growth in the national economy through the national minimum wage.

The results have been damaging. Public sector wages are closely related to the minimum wage and a significant fraction of the work force in the public sector are at this level. The national minimum wage too has been used as a bench-mark for fixing wages in the private sector. It is therefore of great concern that by 1993 the real wage at the top of the public service pay scales had declined to one-fifth of what it was in 1987.

Workers Organisations

Trade unions were legalized in Guyana in 1921. They however, emerged into their own as a result of the revolts of the late 1930s (1937/38) against colonialism and poverty. At present there are 24 of these grouped together within an umbrella body: the Trades Union Congress. Several of the unions have strong links to political parties, including those which have held political office. This pattern emerged out of the revolts in the late 1930s as the trade union movement became closely linked to the independence movements also, many of the political leaders emerged from the trade union movement. This is indeed a general feature of trade unionism in the Common-wealth Caribbean and has earned the description of "political unionism" (IADB, 1994, p.335).

About one-half of the regular salaried work force and one-quarter of all workers are unionized. Despite this, these organisations face many difficulties:

First, the Economic Recovery Programme which commenced in 1991 is premised on keeping inflation in check through among other measures, stringent controls on wages and public sector spending. In this context the leverage of unions in advancing worker interests is vastly reduced.

Second, the linkage of the trade union system to political parties which has characterised the English-speaking Caribbean is both a source of strength and weakness. Historically, it has proven that its strength lies in the political consciousness of the work force and its consequently strong commitment to the ideals of liberal democracy. Trade union movements supported the movement for independence and in turn much of the post-colonial political leadership in the Region had, and continue to have, strong trade union ties. But among the weaknesses of this nexus are the risk of diversion from its objectives of protecting the welfare of its membership and becoming embroiled in larger political conflicts, where the particular interests of a union, are relegated to second order priority.

Third, many of the unions, despite affiliation to a national umbrella organization, have serious conflicts and rivalries among themselves. This occurs in a situation where the laws governing trade union recognition are still being revised, and where also the principles of "voluntarism" and "gentlemen's agreements" prevailed as the norm in industrial practices.

Fourth, as would be expected the practice of collective contracts as a legal institution is weak. Unions are organized at the industrial level and negotiation takes place at the firm level. The umbrella organization plays no significant role in this process, unless there is a major breakdown in employer-union relations.

Fifth, despite efforts, lasting well over a decade now, there is no integrated labour code in Guyana.

Human Resource Development (HRD)

Education and training of the labour force are important components of HRD and together provide perhaps the best oppor-tunities for promoting SHD in Guyana. The gains from these multiply throughout the economy, benefitting not only the direct recipients, but their families (children in particular), networks of personal relations, and the wider community as well. Education and training also affect recipients in many other ways, not least of which are their effects on the recipient's sense of capacity, self-worth and empowerment.

In looking at SHD therefore, we should enquire: What do the data on labour force skills in Guyana show? These reveal that 11 percent of the labour force had no schooling or was below a primary level of schooling in 1992. In that year only 4 percent had received university training. The bulk of the labour force had primary training (55 percent) and secondary training, (30 percent) see Table 5.5.

Table 5.5: Labour Force by Educational Level (%) 1992

Source: HIES Database, Bureau of Statistics

Agricultural occupations seemed to have fared the worst. As much as 86 percent of the work force in this sector had a primary or lower level of education only, while 14 percent finished secondary training and university. In comparison all other sectors had as much as 33-42 percent with secondary and university training (Table 5.6).

Table 5.6: Employed Labour Force by Sector And Highest Level of Education

Sector	No Schooling	Below Primary	Primary	Secondary	Graduate
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	6	15	65	13	1
Mining and Quarrying	4	9	52	33	3
Manufacturing	2	8	51	36	2
Construction	2	8	57	31	2
Services	2	6	49	38	4

Source: HIES Database, Bureau of Statistics

Data obtained from the University of Guyana show that in the academic year 1995/1996, first year students in technology and agriculture were predominantly male, with percentages of 86 and 68, respectively. The reverse occurred in the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, where females were 77 and 62 percent, respectively. Overall, females represented 55 percent of first-year students.

The distribution by Regions also showed that two-thirds of the first year students (63 percent) came from Region 4. This Region, which includes the capital Georgetown, has about 30 percent of the total population.

The picture drawn above is therefore unsatisfactory in many regards. This is so both at the level of overall skills of the workforce in Guyana and the pattern of young people's access to higher education.

Policy Implications

National Standards

Although there is a strong linkage between political parties and trade unions in Guyana, Government's intervention in the labour market is restricted. There is a need for this to expand and for national standards to be established and enforced. As Thomas (1994) has observed:

"Hard times have thrown children and women on the job market and they need to be protected. Further-more, the existence of numerous unregulated and unsupervised job sites in remote mining and forest areas, require that national standards are laid down and enforced, particularly in such areas as child labour, occupational health and safety, working hours, and national insurance coverage" (Thomas, 1994, p.53).

 Draft occupational health and safety legislation has been prepared and is now being circulated for comments.

 Minimum Wage

Because of the key role the minimum wage plays in setting wage rates nationally and its likely linkage to where the poverty line is drawn, there is need for Government to protect those, who for whatever reasons, are unable to protect themselves with the aid of existing civic institutions e.g., Trade Union. The minimum wage should be more expressly targeted to the poverty line and it should be indexed. If this is done, the minimum wage could become a fair wage standard - which it is not at present.

Linked to the minimum wage is the issue of the decline of real wages in the public sector. Poor pay and conditions of service have made the lower and middle levels of the public service part of the newly poor, or the employed poor. The incomes which these workers contribute to their households, particularly when they are the sole wage earner, cannot take the household above the poverty line.

Table 5.7 shows the behaviour of the real wage index for central government employees over the last decade. The decline to 1991 is very noticeable, as is the subsequent increase.

Table 5.7: Real Wage Index: Central Government Employees

Period	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
Index	100	113	102	75	84	82	107	113	131	141	151*

Note: * Estimate

Source: Calculated from Government of Guyana, IMF-IBRD Statistics

Apart from its impact on poverty, this situation has also affected recruitment of suitable persons into public employment and affected the morale of those who remain. Thus, far from being the premier employment opportunity for bright new entrants to the labour force, which it once was, public service, is now seen as among the least desirable employment options in Guyana. This situation therefore, needs to be remedied, as a matter of priority.

Labour Market Information

Apart from an inadequate Central Recruitment and Manpower (sic) Agency in the Ministry of Labour, there is no reliable and effective mechanism for the gathering and dissemination of labour market information. There are no regular series on employment trends and wage behaviour. There is no directory of employment opportunities or description of occupational and industrial employment and wage structures. Indeed there is no national industrial classification system.

The development of such an information base would be very helpful to the development of the labour market in Guyana.

 Counselling and Guidance

The point raised above is of great significance in the areas of counselling and guidance, particularly where new entrants to the labour force are concerned. As already noted, the likely rate of growth of salaried jobs will not be sufficient to eliminate, in the foreseeable period the scourge of unemployment, guidance into self-employment activities would be an important element of a package designed to deal with this fundamental dimension of human development.

Legal Reform

The situation analysis above indicated the deficiency of legislation in a number of areas such as trade union recognition, the legal status of collective agreements, and the absence of an integrated labour code. An improvement in this area is clearly a matter of considerable urgency.

Associated with this is the further consideration that Guyana has agreed to a large number of ILO Conventions, reflecting the influential role of the Unions in the political process. However, unfortunately, most of these have not yet been passed into local laws and therefore remain legally unenforceable. The local rati-fication of agreed-to ILO Conventions is a matter of great importance for the promotion of SHD.

Non-Formal/Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Reports on non-formal education in Guyana show that it has considerable potential in promoting HRD, itself a significant component of SHD. Six benefits have been clearly identified. It can provide:

• Modalities of learning entirely outside the formal structure.
• A means by which skills and knowledge gained in the formal system can be extended.
• Opportunities to compensate for "unjustifiable" denial of access to the formal system.
• Opportunities for the "drop-outs" and "left-outs" of the formal school system.
• Ways in which skills are offered to small or poor communities, which otherwise could not afford them.
• Opportunities to innovate in a wide number of areas (see Thomas 1992, and Y. Mitchell 1987).

These observations show that non-formal education can contribute towards closing the "job gap" while remaining an important alternative to the formal system, as well as supplement and complement it. An important dimension of this, not treated separately, is informal training "on-the-job" or apprenticeship type arrangements. This is an important means of passing on skills.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

Thomas (1992) lists 17 major categories of institutions which provide TVET in Guyana. These exist in both the formal and non-formal sectors. They also cover most occupations and range from primary level, upwards. The system however:

"exhibits many limitations and weaknesses. It is complex, if not complicated, overlapping and uncoordinated. There is no standardisation of certification, course content, entry requirements, trainers qualifications, or even length of training. Furthermore, it is still perceived as "low-status" education offered to those not bright enough to follow the mainstream academic programmes of the formal system. This is frequently combined with a strong gender bias against women pursuing certain "male" areas of technical skills" (Thomas, 1994, p.57).

This diagnosis makes the remedies obvious. There is the need for some national mechanisms to coordinate all forms of TVET. It is important that this is not conceived of as the provision of a costly bureaucratic structure. The emphasis is on the co-ordination of the activities already taking place within the system with the actors of the system playing the leading role in this process. In its 1993-1998, Policy Document on "TVET for Economic Advancement" the Ministry of Education had proposed the creation of a National Council for TVET with its own secretariat, a modularized curriculum and other aspects of standardisation. This, however, has not yet been brought into existence and remains an urgent priority.

Proposals to advance TVET in the school system were also contained in this document, along with plans to coordinate activities in these areas within the public sector and between the public, private and NGO sectors. But this also has not been advanced noticeably and the priority therefore remains.

ii) The Indigenous Peoples

In this sub-Section we look in some detail at the situation of the indigenous peoples of Guyana, the Guyanese Amerindians. Their human condition and the social issues they have to deal with illustrate well, how they are positioned in relation to SHD in Guyana. Policy issues will be dealt with as they arise in the discussion.

Population Characteristics

Guyanese Amerindians rank as the fourth largest ethnic group, after the East Indian, African and Mixed Guyanese ethnic groups. An estimated 70 per cent of the total Amerindian population live in the regions west of the Essequibo River - Regions 1, 7, 8 and 9 (Table 5.8). They comprise the majority populations in Regions 1, 8 and 9, and a significant percentage (one-third) in Region 7. These are the regions that encompass the mineral-rich Guiana Shield which has been the focus of interest in the 1990s for mineral prospecting and forest extractive multinational companies with interests and/or holding companies also in neighbouring Suriname and Venezuela where this shield extends.

Table 5.8: Amerindian Population by Region

Source: HIES, 1993.

There are 9 surviving Amerindian peoples, distinguished by their use of distinct languages and by their separation by natural environments. Listed below (Table 5.9) are the estimated numbers of each Amerindian people as well as the general environmental niche occupied:

Table 5.9: Location of Amerindian Peoples

Amerindian People	Location
Lokono Arawaks	white sand plateau near the coast; middle river basins below the falls; [Arawaks and Mixed Arawaks comprise an estimated 15,500 persons].
Warau	coastal swamps; [population 5,000].
Karinya (Caribs)	coastal river heads; coastal lowland forests; [population 3,000].
Akawaio/Kapon	lowland and upland forests; the Mazaruni River basin; [population 5,000].
Patamona/Kapon	upland savannah; [population 5,000].
Arekuna/Pemon	upland savannah; [population 500].
Makushi/Pemon	lowland savannah; [population 7,750].
Wapishana	lowland savannah; [population 6,900].
Waiwai	lowland forest; [population 200].

Life expectancy among the Amerindian peoples is a matter of considerable concern. There are only 2,981 Amerindians above 55 years of age. Amerindian birth rates however are the highest of all ethnic groups. This trend is in line with growth rates for other indigenous populations throughout the Americas, reversing the widespread prediction at the beginning of the 20th century that indigenous populations were on their way to extinction. However, it is indicative of another universal phenomenon: that birth rates are highest among the poorest strata of society, where children are often the only form of insurance available and where women have few options to limit childbearing. The average indigenous household is composed of 5.5 persons, somewhat higher than the national average of 4.28 persons.

Employment and Income

The HIES (1993) survey data reveal that 75 per cent of the Amerindians are in the self-employed category, with this concentrated in traditional subsistence activities (agriculture, hunting and forestry). Smaller numbers are self-employed in fishing, mining and quarrying, and manufacturing. As indicated in Section I a comparison with the other ethnic groups yields a substantially larger proportion of Amerindians being classified as poor (85 percent).

On the face of it, given their comparatively small numbers, reversing the poverty status of Amerindians would seem a manageable task. In practice, however, Amerindian/hinterland poverty is a complex mix of issues, because of a set of inter-related factors: their dispersed settlement patterns, the difficult terrain they occupy, the high cost of administration of interior projects in Guyana, the lack of human resource skills both in the Amerindian and in the wider population, and a lobby which while growing, is not yet strong enough.

The other - less easily definable - aspect of the problem results from the markedly egalitarian ethos that defines Amerindian social organisation, which is now being transformed in a number of ways. Until very recently, most Amerindian communities were essentially lacking in hierarchical distinctions. Few villagers worked outside of the community and those who did generally earned modest wages in timber grants or in other manual jobs.

In spite of rapid changes in many areas of the interior, the majority of Amerindians continue however, to operate outside of the cash economy, dependent on a subsistence way of life. Increasingly, indigenous households are suffering now from what has been termed `the development paradox' where the availability of money results in lower nutritional status. Subsistence farming, particularly in coastal settlements and those located near to interior mining and forestry industries, is increasingly under threat from the long periods of absence of able-bodied males engaged in wage labour in resource extractive industries.

All Amerindian communities have suffered doubly from the impact of structural adjustment on food prices - increased transportation costs to the interior on top of dramatic increases in the cost of food. The mining industry has also transformed social relationships in many indigenous communities, with a monetary value now placed on every good or service. This new insistence on payment puts the old and the young in particular, who lack the wherewithal, at risk.

The expansion of the gold and diamond mining industries which began in the early 1980s has attracted many Amerindian males. Some who worked on their own struck gold while others who hired out their labour on medium or large-scale mining operations were able to earn considerable amounts of cash in relatively short periods of time. At present the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) estimates that Amerindians make up 50 percent of their work force.

This mining fever extends well beyond the mineral-rich areas, and attracts Amerindian males from all parts of Guyana. The present scale of Amerindian involvement in mining is a contributory factor to the changing dynamics of village life, in particular that aspect in which the younger people often measure status by the possession of consumer goods combined with the de-emphasizing of subsistence agriculture.

In general, village life and particularly women and older people have to bear the adverse impacts of mining. The expansion of medium scale prospecting, the technological advances in the industry as well as the provisions of the 1991 Mining Act that have allowed the mining of river banks and the growth of uncontrolled land mining, have resulted in river pollution in many areas, destroying the sources of potable water, increasing water-borne diseases and affecting fish availability. Women and children often have to paddle far distances to get to unpolluted water sources while water- and vector-borne diseases have increased with mining activities.

As pointed out earlier, involvement in resource extractive industries has aided the commercialisation of many aspects of indigenous community life. This has been to the detriment of those families and individuals who do not or cannot participate in its operations. Moreover, the absence of financial institutions on the one hand, and the proliferation of outlets that sell liquor and other consumables, often mean that little of the monies earned by indigenous mining workers is invested or even spent on familial needs. Mining also has had a general inflationary aspect on commercial transactions within Amerindian communities, again jeopardising the access of the old and the young to services and resources which previously had not passed through a cash nexus.

Access to Resources

Land

The majority of the 77 Amerindian communities in Guyana have title to some of their traditional lands, totaling some 16 per cent of the Guyanese national territory. Most of this land is within the tropical Amazonian or savannah ecosystems, and therefore of poor soil quality. Some 20 communities scattered over the entire country, comprising a total estimated population of about five thousand persons, lack any security of tenure. Only one Amerindian community - Orealla - has had a physical survey of its reservation boundaries, because at the time when title was granted in 1976, aerial surveys were done to establish community boundaries. In general, about 90 per cent of the areas granted to Amerindian communities have been demarcated by natural boundaries.

At a recent Workshop (February 1996, Paramakatoi) on establishing a National Protected Areas System (NPAS) for Guyana (See Box 1.7), the President announced to the gathered Amerindian leaders that the Government was actively seeking financial and other resources to demarcate all titled Amerindian lands. One reason for this declaration is that the issue of land security is most acute for those communities, either made accessible to outsiders by the building of roads or affected by the presence of outsiders engaged in resource exploitation in and around them.

The problem of resource access has become quite acute and one solution which has been proposed, and which has much merit is that the issue of land title should be approached through the convening of meetings and consultations between the relevant government (Department of Lands and Surveys; GGMC, Ministry of Amerindian Affairs) and regional personnel (Land Selection Committee; Regional Democratic Council) along with the communities concerned, which would lead to the granting of communal title to vulnerable communities in the first instance, and others later.

It has been recognized that in addition to those communities lacking outright title, other communities face problems of encroachment on their lands by garimpeiro-type mining operations, by forestry operations and from the general lack of regulation by State agencies. The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has begun to coordinate meetings involving these various, often conflicting, resource use interests, as well as the affected communities. In this instance also the establishment of standard protocols or procedures, mutually agreed on by indigenous communities and the State, would be another policy recommendation. In some cases, Amerindian leaders of villages which hold title to their communities' lands have made deals with coastal sawmilling enterprises, and with land and river mining operators for use of these, without adequate consultation or in ignorance of the consequences.

Given the weak State presence in much of the interior, Amerindian communities therefore need legal assistance, technical support and training to counter this growing phenomenon. Immediate needs can be addressed by the development, with NGO and/or Government support, of sustainable livelihood alternatives. At present Amerindians are increasingly incorporated into these processes as unskilled labourers, tree spotters, etc., on their own or adjoining lands, or doing manual work for outside companies or individuals. Meanwhile several Amerindian communities face pressures to allow timber companies to log on their lands or suffer unpreventable poaching.

Water, Timber, Fish and Mineral Resources

Access to potable water is non-existent in the majority of Amerindian communities. Traditional sources of pure water - creeks and rivers - have increasingly come under threat of pollution from the rapid growth of resource extractive industries referred to above. Hydraulic earthmoving on and near riverbanks by the mining industry has increased water turbidity, which in turn has affected the spawning grounds of many fish species.

In Guyana land title rights of Amerindian communities encompass usufruct rights - to fish, farm and hunt on the land - as well as rights to all timber on reserved lands. At present the forestry reserves under the sole control of Amerindian communities are considerable, and if harvested sustainably, could support indigenous people for generations. Guyana has a land area of about 21.5 M. ha, of which over 16 M. ha are forested and of this total, 1.4 M. ha. of mostly forested land is legally under the control of indigenous peoples.

In recent times a number of Amerindian village leaders have entered into various contractual arrangements with loggers and sawmillers to exploit timber on Amerindian reservations. It does not appear however, that Amerindians have gained very much from this trade which appears to have principally benefitted outsiders. Yet there is a threshold of poverty below which the poor become disproportionately destructive, either by directly destroying resources which could nurture them for years or indirectly by giving outsiders access to resources under indigenous control. Amerindian land title does not extend to the rivers that pass through a reservation, although Amerindians have the right to fish in all areas controlled by the State and classed as State Lands.

Rights to sub-surface minerals are excluded by title. In practice, however, most of the mining which takes place on titled lands is either illegal (garimpeiro-type operations) or as a result of a private arrangement with a villager or the Captain and Village Council. There is also mining by non-Amerindians on lands, particularly in Regions 1, 7 and 8, claimed by Amerindian communities that lack any form of title. Furthermore, if an Amerindian wishes to engage in mining, then according to Guyanese law, that individual must give up the special rights enshrined in law enjoyed as an Amerindian.

The scale of mining in and around Amerindian areas is predicted to increase dramatically over the next few years. Large scale corporations are now prospecting in Amerindian areas. In addition, over 3,000 prospecting licences have been issued to medium-scale operators to date. Even if we conservatively estimate that only 10 per cent of the prospecting companies go on to mining, the transformation of the interior and its peoples will be considerable.

Capital, Finance and Credit

It is difficult for Amerindians living in reservations to get access to commercial financing for start-up capital. This is because the preferred security demanded by commercial banks is proof of land ownership. Amerindians who mostly have communal title therefore cannot proffer individual titles to land as a condition for getting bank credit. Agencies like the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED), and Small Business Credit Initiative Inc. are increasingly trying to accommodate the needs for start-up capital of indigenous peoples. The former had established a Micro-Enterprise Loan Scheme in 1993 to assist low-income groups, including Amerindians and by May 1996, residents of four Amerindian communities had accessed funds through this loan scheme.

A second major difficulty is posed by the absence of banking facilities in most Amerindian areas of Guyana. This means that indigenous people have no secure and easy way of saving their money, and thus are more tempted to spend it all on consumables sold in interior shops. One often-repeated suggestion to cope with this is for an expansion in Amerindian areas of Government Postal Agencies equipped to deal with savings accounts. The current situation unfortunately facilitates the entry of non-Amerindian middlemen who advance credit to cash-strapped communities in exchange for natural resources and in desperation these communities enter into these arrangements.

Development planning by central government, particularly in the area of agriculture, is mandatory if the decline of subsistence farming among Amerindian communities is to be arrested. Agri-cultural extension workers in the Regions generally suffer from a lack of transportation and supplies necessary for effective work. Experimental plots and model farms have collapsed and need to be rehabilitated. Planning for the marketing of Amerindian produce in markets in and outside of Guyana is also vital. In this regard, the need for planned infrastructural development of the interior, in consultation with interior peoples, is also critical, as without infrastructure, micro-projects, particularly those with an income-generating focus, often fail.

Non-traditional Agriculture

Most Amerindian households still rely on subsistence agriculture for their basic food. Foodstuff transported to the interior can cost five or more times than in some areas on the coast because of high transportation costs based on the difficulty of access and the small population numbers to be serviced, as well as the inflationary effect of mining and the monopoly status of the limited number of shopkeepers in these areas. Increasingly, however, non-traditional agriculture is being developed in Amerindian areas.

The most important non-traditional crop is heart of palm farming. Basically this is a resource extractive operation mainly situated in Region 1, which started in 1988 and has recently expanded into the Berbice River (Region 10). One company is engaged in heart of palm canning, and all of its production is exported to Europe and the USA. An estimated 6 million palm trees (Euterpe oloracea) are cut annually in Region 1 on State and Amerindian titled lands under no supervision by the Guyana Forestry Commission or any other body responsible for the long-term sustainability of the palm species. The company maintains that since it is only purchasing palm hearts from independent suppliers, it has no obligations to monitor harvesting methods, to pay royalties on palms cut, or to provide benefits like workers' compensation to cutters who happen to get injured while engaged in the tree-felling or transporting of palm hearts. The Amerindian suppliers are unorganised and unaware of the long-term implications of continued mining of the resource in their areas. In many cases, cutters have given up subsistence agriculture to engage in supplying palm hearts on a full-time basis. The cutter receives G$5 (US$0.035) or the equivalent in foodstuff for delivering each palm heart to the company's agent. Palm heart exports lead the list of non-traditional agricultural exports from Guyana. The company exports nine containers or 38,400 cans each month.

The next important non-traditional crop is peanut cultivation. Beginning in the early 1980s, Amerindian farmers, particularly in Regions 1 and 9, took loans to expand into peanut cultivation. For several years the entire crop of Region 9 farmers was bought by Guyana Stores Ltd - a Government owned retail establishment. This arrangement was terminated in 1989 and since then, farmers have had to sell to middlemen - large Rupununi peanut producers or truck owners. Import liberalisation in 1991 has also allowed unre-stricted imports of peanuts, resulting in a loss of market share for the local crop.

Finally, in Region 1 in particular, villagers supplement their subsistence way of life by growing ground provisions on the riverain clay soils that are first drained. Some market their surplus produce by paddling downriver to the fortnightly market located near to the Region's administrative centre. In other instances hucksters travel from the coast to the marketing centre to purchase their output. Prices reported in the Amerindian areas for these products have been about one-quarter of the prices at urban coastal markets.

Social Conditions

Education

The social conditions facing Amerindian communities are below the standards considered acceptable by most Guyanese. In the area of education while only 3 percent of the Amerindian population was found to be illiterate, close to one-half of that number were between 5 and 9 years old. The majority of the illiterate were female. The Functional Literacy Survey of Out of School Youth (UNICEF, 1995) established a significant relation-ship between race and achievement in functional literacy, with the Amerindians being the most disadvantaged of all ethnic groups. Some 80 percent of Amerindians were found to be achieving below an acceptable level of functional literacy, a fact the Report's authors attributed to the generally poorer quality of education currently available in the interior regions.

 According to the LSMS survey 0.1 percent of the interior population have received post-secondary education. The urgent need for the upgrading of basic skills among the adult population has been identified at every recent forum of Amerindian represent-atives. Indeed, this is felt by many to be an area in which NGOs in particular may wish to channel expertise and funding with a view to preparing Amerindians to take fuller opportunities of job openings within the developing economy of Guyana's interior.

Health

While the national health plan aims at universal health coverage, chronic staff and drugs shortages at district and regional levels limit access to quality health care. In Region 9, for example, only 75 out of the 106 positions in the health sector were filled in 1996. With no X-ray technician, the only regional X-ray department has been forced to close.

The National Plan of Action for Children (1995) had noted:

"Conditions for Amerindian children and women of the hinterland, taken as a group, are harsh in comparison with conditions for children on the coast. Malaria, malnutrition, acute respiratory illness, diarrhoeal-related diseases are especially prevalent due to unacceptable water and sanitation. High levels of teen pregnancy, poor child spacing, poor maternal health and a decline in breast-feeding are all of concern."

Some 8 out of 10 inhabitants in Region 1 had malaria in the first quarter of 1995, with no improvements to date in 1996. About 35 per cent of these cases have not responded to the standard drug treatment while an equal number are reinfected three times and more during the average 12-month period. The findings of a 1992 GAHEF Health and Nutrition Survey in all ten Regions of Guyana included the following:

• "that children in the hinterland areas - Regions 7 and 8 - were the ones most affected by respiratory tract infection. Over 50 per cent in Region 8 and more than 30 per cent in Region 7 were affected at the time of the survey" (p.x).
• "The highest percentage of children with diarrhoea at the time of the survey or preceding the survey was found in Region 9, another interior region. At the time of the survey, 10.2 per cent were found to be affected by diarrhoea, while 29.1 per cent were affected during the previous month" (p.x).
• "Anaemia remains a persistent health problem particularly among pregnant women. Statistics from health centres in 1987 showed that 70.5 per cent of women checked had haemoglobin levels below 11 g/dk." (p. 19).
• "The largest percentage of women whose highest education was at the primary level was from the Amerindian group (85 per cent). The largest percentage of women who reported receiving no education (5.9 per cent) was also of Amerindian origin. However, as mentioned earlier, Amerindians were over-represented in the sample" (p. 29).
• In the measurement of severe malnutrition, Region 8 (Pakaraimas, with a majority indigenous population) recorded 4.8 per cent, coming after Region 5 (a coastal region) which with 5.8 per cent had the highest level (p.55).
• Region 8 recorded the highest percentage of mild to moderate malnutrition with 33.9 per cent, followed by Region 7 with 28.4 per cent, Region 6 with 27.3 per cent and Region 5 with 25.4 per cent (p.55).
• "The highest percentage of severely malnourished and mild to moderately malnourished children were from among those women who had 4 or more children," (again a group in which Amerindian women cluster).
• "The highest percentage of low birth weights was recorded among the Amerindians, 29.9 per cent. However these figures may have been influenced by the skewed nature of the sample" (p.62).

Malaria

Malaria is one of the leading causes of morbidity in Guyana, now endemic in the interior regions and with its foci of infection now as close to the densely populated coast as the Amerindian villages of the Pomeroon River and Lakes District of Region 2. The Government's Malaria Control Programme is currently in poor shape; the Head of the Vector Control Services resigned in January 1996 and has not since been replaced. His second in command was on leave for most of 1996 also. No figures are available on malarial rates for the first half or quarter of 1996 but official "guesstimates", however, are that the rates are as high as, if not higher, than the corresponding period of 1995. The announcement by the Minister of Health in January 1995 that the Ministry had acquired, through UNICEF, insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets for distribution among affected Amerindian communities has not been followed by speedy action as it was reported to us that nets are still lying in a Georgetown bond.

Rates of malaria infection in Guyana have increased steadily since the early 1980s. This disease is prevalent in the forested interior areas of Guyana where the mosquito vector is abundant. These are also the areas populated by a majority of indigenous peoples who, along with miners and other workers in resource extractive industries, are its principal victims. Recent data are shown in Table 5.10.

Table 5.10: Malaria Cases

Close to three-quarters of the cases reported are of the more deadly falciparum strain. According to the MOH, some 50 percent of the annual malaria cases occur among indigenous peoples (Table 5. 11). Repeated bouts of malaria take a heavy toll on infected populations, weakening their resistance, and exposing them to infection from other diseases.

Table 5.11: Malaria Cases: Amerindian Population

Source: HIES, 1993 and data supplied by the MOH, 1996.

The MOH has reported that US$0.5 million was spent on the malaria programme in 1995 - on interior travel, fogging and spraying equipment, drugs and supplies. In addition between 10 and 20 community health workers are trained each year in malaria diagnosis and treatment in an effort to complement the 40 field stations that make up the malaria diagnostic network. A high attrition rate of health personnel as well as a shortage of microscopes impede speedy detection and treatment. Some 227 community health workers have been trained since 1979 but only 71 remained at their posts at the end of 1994.

Endemic malaria has an extraordinarily debilitating effect on the infected community. High infection rates which break the agricultural cycle have historically been associated with the extinction of entire peoples. The malaria epidemic is exacerbated by the peripatetic nature of workers in resource extractive industries, who often contract the disease in a mining area and then return to their homes to spread it among the sedentary residents.

In the straitened economic circumstances of Guyana, where there are few or no welfare support systems available to small scattered interior populations, malaria can reduce a family to starvation. Some families, caught between the independence of a subsistence way of life with the ever-present threat of malaria on the one hand versus wage bondage with access to medical facilities with a resource extractive company, understandably will choose the latter.

Tuberculosis

Of the 296 cases of tuberculosis confirmed in 1995, Amerindians accounted for 23.8 percent, African Guyanese for 53.4% and Indo-Guyanese 17.2 percent. About 17 percent of the cases were reported from Region 1, an area with a majority Amerindian population. In part this is as a result of improved reporting from primary health workers. In 1994, the MOH trained health workers from two sub-regions of Region 1 (Mabaruma and Santa Rosa) in identifying tuberculosis from tests conducted on sputum. This training was extended to Region 9 in 1995 and Region 8 in 1996.

The Principal Tuberculosis Officer announced that health officials are slated to visit hinterland and riverain areas in 1996 to evaluate TB and to train health workers in Regions 1, 6, and 9. The rise in TB cases worldwide is also associated with the increasing incidence of AIDS.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and Narcotic Drugs

Nationally the rate of STDs, including AIDS, is high among mining workers whose workplaces are located in the interior. In addition, driven by their poverty and lack of employment opportunities, many Amerindians gravitate towards these locations where there is the possibility of steady or casual employment in the camps as well as in surrounding rum shops, discotheques, etc. Given the lack of effective public education on the life-threatening nature of HIV infection, STDs may well assume urgent proportions among indigenous peoples. An aggressive AIDS public education campaign must target interior as well as coastal populations.

While there is little data on the scale of drug cultivation, trafficking and use in Guyana, Amerindian involvement has been reported in many areas - the Mahaica, Demerara and Pomeroon Rivers, the North West or Region 1 as well as the interior mining districts. Drug use is also reported in mining areas where Amerindians make up part of many crews.

Water-Borne Diseases

The majority of Amerindian communities depend on nearby creeks and rivers or on shallow ponds dug close to their homes for their water supply. Those communities located close to mining areas increasingly lack a safe source of potable water. An increasing incidence of water-borne diseases and skin rashes has been reported from all interior areas - a development which may or may not be blamed on resource extractive industries. In addition, the majority of interior dwellings have palm-thatched roofs which cannot be adapted effectively for the collection of sterile rainwater.

The use of pit latrines is far from universal in Amerindian areas. The number of cases of diarrhoea increases with the rainy season, when the run-off from the ground transfers faecal matter into the river water that is rarely boiled. Many adults also do not know that there can be a connection between diarrhoea and drinking water that is not boiled. Worm infestation is endemic in most interior areas. The extremely low haemoglobin levels found in Amerindian patients referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital are probably as much a symptom of year-round worm infestation and repeated bouts of malaria as of poor nutrition.

Although groups like Raleigh International and Youth Challenge International target interior communities in their education outreach programmes, many more communities might benefit from a more systematic, year-round public health campaign.

Institutional Support

Since the introduction of the ERP in 1991, a number of non-governmental and international organisations have focussed on pro-jects in Amerindian areas, most notably, the Social Impact Amelior-ation Programme (SIMAP), and FUTURES Fund. FUTURES Fund has executed over 50 projects in Amerindian communities. The Inter- American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) in cooperation with FUTURES Fund, is carrying out an agroforestry/ agriculture development programme for 9 Amerindian communities in Region 2.

In 1994 UNICEF, in collaboration with the Government of Guyana, launched a Five Year Amazon Programme. This programme focuses on the amelioration of living conditions of indigenous communities through an integrative and participatory process with the communities involved.

The UNDP is also involved in several projects in individual Amerindian communities. The Rupununi Weavers Society in Region 9 has been supported by its PDP fund. UNDP also funded the February 1995 Consultation on Indigenous Peoples and National Development.

Worthwhile as all this activity is, in practice it has often been marred by the tensions it has generated within small communities - a SIMAP faction, versus a FUTURES faction, etc. As suggested above, more attention to village dynamics and more donor coordination will support any sustained poverty alleviation programme. In addition, the Regional Councils need to play a more active role in project implementation and monitoring. Individual micro projects stand more of a chance of success if supported by macro planning at a higher level in the economy.

While the Amerindian population is important in regional demographic terms, it is neither homogeneous nor effectively organised as a lobby. This is a distinct disadvantage on account of the rapid development of resource extractive industries and the strength of those lobbies (mining and forestry) in the national as well as regional administrative centres.

However, some Amerindian organisations have risen to national prominence beginning in the decade of the 1990s. There are 4 national organisations: the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP), The Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana (TAAMOG) and the National Amerindian Council (NAC). The NAC was formed in 1995 as an attempt to network the efforts of all the other organisations, under a national umbrella but it has not got off the ground.

There have been concerns expressed by Amerindian organisations over the limited financial and personnel resources available to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, which was established in 1992 under the Ministry of Regional Development. (In 1996 this Ministry was moved to the Office of the President).

Many Amerindian communities have reported dissatisfaction with the way they interface with the regional system. They claim that in many cases the structure of the interaction process ignores natural and traditional links between hinterland and the coast. Some examples are:

• -Manawarin village which is bisected by regional boundaries,. straddling both Regions 1 and 2;
• -Moruka Sub-Region in Region 1, administered from Mabaruma in the far north west but is more logically linked with Region 2 on the Essequibo Coast.
• -Riversview in Region 10 based in Linden while residents paddle to and fro between this village and Bartica in Region 7.
• -Kurupukari: part of Region 8, headquartered in Mahdia, yet linked to the Rupununi and to Linden by the Georgetown to Lethem road.
• -Berbice River Amerindian communities: part of Region 10 yet with more organic links to New Amsterdam than Linden.

 Link to second part of section 5