The National Democratic Institute (NDI) Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Gerardo Le Chevallier is scheduled to train ten women at a negotiation and accountability workshop at the NDI office at King Street and North Road today and tomorrow, an NDI press release said.
Le Chevallier brings a wealth of practical experience to the programme and the women involved in this training module will benefit enormously from his global expertise, according to NDI Country Director, Michael Murphy.
This is the fourth in a series of modules designed to prepare women for local government elections. Since the programme began in June last year, women all over Guyana have been trained by the NDI in `Leadership Skills', `Local Government', and `Effective use of the Media.'
It is also part of NDI's continuing work with Guyanese women to increase their participation in the decision-making process at the local level, the release said.
NDI is training interested women, regardless of their political affiliation, to participate in non-partisan training sessions and other activities designed to promote and increase dialogue between women and local government entities as well as to encourage their participation in the upcoming local government elections.
Le Chevallier, who has acted as an NDI field director in Paraguay, Bosnia and Haiti, has served in various positions in the Government of El Salvador, where he was born. He was popularly elected as Deputy in the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly and was a member of the Central American Parliament.
He was also appointed as Director of Tourism and Secretary of Information for Presidents Jose Napoleon Duarte and Alvaro Magana and he was also recognised as one of the key negotiators in the Salvadoran Peace Accords, which ended the 12-year civil war in El Salvador.
The NDI, with funding from the United States Agency For International Development (USAID), and in partnership with the Carter Center and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, is implementing the `more responsive and participatory governance and rule of law' programme, the release stated.