The garment construction programme under the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security received a sizable donation on Thursday from Silvie’s Industrial Solutions.
At a simple ceremony at the Ministry’s head office on Lamaha and East Streets, 106 sewing machines, valued at over $4 million, was handed over to the Ministry.
Silvie’s Chief Executive Officer, Bramanand Persaud, indicated that the company was proud of the initiative taken by the Ministry to empower young women in communities.
The company’s Quality Management System Manager, Deepawattie Persaud, noted that the company was happy to be associated with the Ministry and was highly impressed by the work it has been doing to help improve the lives of vulnerable persons in Guyana, particularly through the Guyana Women’s Leadership Institute and the Women’s Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN).
“The Ministry is doing so a great job helping those in need, and after Minister Persaud spoke at an event recently, we jumped at the opportunity to come on board and play our part. We would like to continue to help in whatever way possible,” the Manager said.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, said, “We are setting up the top floor of the GWLI as a sewing lab, we express our thanks, this will go a long way in assisting our sewing programme, we have received positive countrywide feedback and we will be taking this to the people there in order to fulfill our promise of making them entrepreneurs.”
With nearly 300 persons, including persons living with permanent disabilities, already trained in garment construction through the WIIN programme, Coordinator, Sanjay Pooran highlighted that the programme is expected to train 500 persons in this area throughout 2023.
“We are aiming to train about 500 persons in garment construction this year, since the programme was introduced, we have consistently had a high demand for it to be offered and with this boost in equipment, we will be better able to surpass our target,” Pooran said.
