The Workshop, which gets underway on Monday, will be held at the Lake Mainstay Resort, Essequibo and will run for five days.

During those five days, a group of about 50 persons identified to assist in leading UNDP’s initiative aimed at reversing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country, will be trained in the broad aspects of `Emotional Intelligence’. A two- member team of Consultants from Teleos Leadership Institute, Philadelphia, United States of America will conduct the training. They are Dr. Michael Mc Elhenie, Executive Coach and Consulting Organisational Psychologist and Dr. Eddy Mwelwa, Senior Consultant.

Chairing the programme on the opening day will be Ms. Lorna Mc Pherson, Regional Change Agent from the Guyana Team and Coordinator, Health and Family Life Education, Ministry of Education. Country Team Leader is Dr. Brian O’ Toole who will also officiate at the opening ceremony.

The programme will have the active participation of `Team Guyana 11’, a local Group of 11 Change Agents, who earlier this year embarked on Phase I of the Regional Change Agents’ Training Seminar in Trinidad.

They were among about 60 regional participants from seven countries, trained at the Cascadia Hotel, Port of Spain, and returned to their respective countries with a mandate to assist in facilitating aspects of the `Five-day Workshops’ in the Leadership Development Programme, and assist the broader group of participants to identify suitable post workshop Action Learning Projects, employing enhanced leadership and management skills.

Critical to the responsibilities of the Regional Change Agents in their Leadership Development efforts, is identifying and further developing local capacity to lead large-scale multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS programmes.

UNDP anticipates that by the end of the second Regional Training Session, the Regional Change Agents would have developed expert skills and capacities to enable them to act as transformational change agents in their respective countries, and the region as a whole.

Another crucial responsibility will be to act as mentors or coaches, to initiate and sustain the workshop participants’ intersessional Action Learning projects, meeting regularly with their team to provide guidance, support and encouragement in achieving their objectives.

Regional Change Agents will also be required, during the course of in-country workshops, to:

** Discuss In-country approach with consultants

** Work along with consultants in conducting break out sessions

** Assess areas of collaborative intervention where necessary

Two months after the Leadership Development Programme, they will be required to facilitate a three-day country level meeting and present the Project outcome.

Included among the participants at the five-day workshop at Lake Mainstay this week will be members of the United Nations and UNDP, Civil Society, Government, Non-Governmental Organisations and the Private Sector. Regional Chairman for Region Two, Mr. Ali Baksh is expected to attend.

The countries involved in the Regional Programme are Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Suriname, St. Kitts and the Dominican Republic.