Groenveldt youth group aims to raise public awareness on alcohol abuse
Stabroek News
March 13, 2003
The Groenveldt Youth Group on the West Coast of Demerara has received a small grant from the Carter Center to have a peer educator group trained to conduct seminars and workshops on substance abuse, particularly alcohol.
A release from the group's chairperson, Chandroutie Persaud said the project is aiming to raise public awareness on the problems and health risks related to substance abuse. It is also hoped that this programme will bring about a reduction in the level of substance abuse among youths and other residents in West Demerara.
The project is being supported by a $1.5 million grant through the Carter Center's Small Grants Advocacy Programme 2002-2003. Persaud said that leaders of the Groenveldt Youth Group are now receiving training in grant management and budgeting, and will have to account to the Carter Center for the spending of the funds. The grant is expected to last for nine months, the release said.
The grant was awarded after the group had been through a lengthy training process that started in February last year. The release said further that all the grant recipients were selected after submitting detailed applications and budgets that were reviewed by Carter Center staff and analysed by a grant review committee from the Guyanese community. Final approval came from the Center's country project director in Guyana.
The youth group, the release added, has been working in Groenveldt since February 2000. Among its previous projects were making and erecting street signs, constructing a bridge in the community, creating a village signboard and painting a pedestrian crossing.
