It was established in 1997, under the guidance and management of Mrs Indra Chandarpal when she was Minister of Human Services and Social Security, after she attended the Beijing Women's Conference in 1995 and participated in the Women's Hemispheric Meeting in Miami, United States.

She said her attendance at these two forums gave her the initial drive necessary to make women's affairs prominent in this society but the overall objective of GWLI is to provide a formal institution for the empowerment of women.

The GWLI programme is aimed at guiding women on issues pertaining to skills training, health and law and giving them an entry point to get involved in empowering themselves.

After graduating from GWLI, graduates may further explore their horizons, Chandarpal said, explaining that the driving factor is to provide opportunities for women who would not have had any formal training or educational background.

She said the main aim of GWLI is to build women's capacity for enhancing their participation in the decision making process and contribute, in an holistic manner, to community and national development.

Girls and women are the prime targets and the goal of GWLI is to make them confident, assertive and economically dependent, attributes gained through capacity building.

GWLI also caters for people with disabilities, others in rural areas and members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which facilitate the reach to women from different backgrounds.

Before the opening, GWLI management, in 1996, acquired the former Belfield Girls School building, by the Government making available $25M through the Poverty Alleviation Project (PAP).

But United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was also a big financial contributor to the scheme.

GWLI is a three-component institution, which operates through a leadership institute, a national research and documentation centre and a five-year action plan, all significantly contributing and guiding the management on the essential measures required to empower Guyanese women.

The five-year plan, towards 2005, outlines specific aspects of women's needs to be looked at nationally, such as in leadership, decision-making, the economy and violence against them.

Trainees for the respective programmes are recruited by way of public advertisements and lecturers or administrators select the approximately 400 who participate simultaneously in different courses annually.

GWLI works continually with NGOs, regional bodies and women's institutes to mobilise and the training began after countrywide consultations on four modules formulated for health, skills training, law and Guyanese women in history.

The institute teaches etiquette, personal hygiene, physical appearance and public speaking but computer training is also offered and the women are exposed, as well, to cultural issues, literacy and numeracy.

GWLI assists women, too, to effectively function in their environment, using the little resources they have in their homes and immediate surroundings.

An important objective is to take the institute to the community in all 10 Administrative Regions and that is one of the reasons for a considerable amount of time being spent on designing syllabuses and modules and recruitment.

However, for 2003, Regions One (Barima/Waini), Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) will be specially targeted, depending heavily on the availability of persons there and authoritative personnel to contribute.

Because volunteers are not paid and, in a number of instances, do not have the time to devote, GWLI conducts training for trainers workshops to adequately facilitate its work.

GWLI is managed by a Board of Directors, comprising representatives of the Women's Studies Group of University of Guyana, the Private Sector, Cyril Potter College of Education, Ministry of Education, Public Service Ministry, the trades union movement and women NGOs.

GWLI's operations are guided by Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and receives subventions from that ministry every year.