<p>The University of Guyana, on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, inked a Memorandum&nbsp; of Understanding (MoU) with ChildLink – a Non-Governmental Organisation, under&nbsp; a project funded by the European Union (EU). This agreement would see the&nbsp; University developing two programmes aimed at strengthening the capacity of&nbsp; humanitarians and social workers with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to&nbsp; effectively and efficiently manage migrant and other emergencies impacting&nbsp; communities in Guyana.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The MoU was signed during a simple ceremony at the Office of the Vice-Chancellor,&nbsp; Turkeyen Campus. The initiative is being funded by the European Office in Guyana&nbsp; and will boost the capacity of both pre-university and UG Social Work students to deal&nbsp; with migration and other disasters and offer much-needed psychosocial support.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>University of Guyana’s Vice-Chancellor, XI, Prof. Paloma Mohamed Martin expressed&nbsp; sincere thanks to the European Union for funding the project, noting that the initiative&nbsp; will bring communities together with resources they desperately need.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Prof. Mohamed Martin further posited that the influx of migrants from Venezuela and&nbsp; Brazil have increased due to COVID-19. “Often when we have these global tragedies it&nbsp; is the smallest and the most vulnerable who are forgotten. This project does not forget them and for that, we are very thankful to ChildLink for helping the University to be&nbsp; involved in bringing relief to those persons who most need it at the community and&nbsp; individual levels,” the VC said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ambassador of the European Union to Guyana, His Excellency Fernando Ponz Canto&nbsp; in his remarks posited that the European Union is very happy to finance the&nbsp; programme as part of a boarder programme to help those who are most at risk during&nbsp; these difficult times.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ambassador Ponz Canto highlighted that UG will play an instrumental role in&nbsp; implementing, equipping and training 50 persons per year so that the right kind of&nbsp; social services that are needed for the children can be provided. “It is instrumental that&nbsp; children are linked to the communities and social services so that they can receive the&nbsp; assistance that is needed," the Ambassador noted.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>University of Guyana’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Emanuel Cummings stated that&nbsp; the MoU will further enhance and complement the work being done by the University.&nbsp; “We are pleased to be a part of this initiative that will ensure that our social workers&nbsp; and our sociologist are trained and equipped with the kind of knowledge that is needed&nbsp; to ensure this programme is successful," Prof. Cummings expressed.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Dean of UG’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Dr. Paulette Henry in brief remarks noted that&nbsp; it is a privilege for the University to formally engage with ChildLink and the European&nbsp; Union.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“This coming together for Social Work and ChildLink to design a programme for&nbsp; communities and to manage migrant emergencies are essential. This will allow our&nbsp; social workers to continue to do the work they do, as well as allow our undergraduate&nbsp; and graduate students to select from among these courses as electives," Dr. Henry&nbsp; highlighted.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Consultant of ChildLink, Ms. Bonita Harris representing Chair of the Board said: “This&nbsp; collaboration with UG is to engage academics so as to increase knowledge and skills to&nbsp; create opportunities for professionals to be more equipped to address emergencies in&nbsp; Guyana.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ms. Harris added: "This initiative places more emphasis on target groups that have&nbsp; influential roles in making communities safer and inclusive for children and their&nbsp; families, including migrants and children with disability. We recognise this as a good&nbsp; opportunity to engage the University of Guyana in creating more tangible changes in&nbsp; these emergencies.”&nbsp;</p>

<p>For more information on the programme to be offered, please make contact with Dr.&nbsp; Paulette Henrey at paulette.henry@uog.edu.gy.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Link to the recording: https://youtu.be/Kz_qCVyqXk0</p>

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<p class="rtecenter"><strong>UG IN BRIEF&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>The University of Guyana is the 58th-year State University of Guyana. It offers 136&nbsp; programmes in over 60 disciplines online and face-to-face in 8 campuses across&nbsp; Guyana. With a student population of now 10,000, UG has provided education,&nbsp; learning, and research for over 50,000 alumni. The mission of the University is to&nbsp; discover, generate, disseminate and apply knowledge of the highest standard for the&nbsp; service of the community, the nation, and of all mankind within an atmosphere of&nbsp; academic freedom that allows for free and critical inquiry. UG's forward-thinking&nbsp; Blueprint 2040 is currently setting the course for the University's future design and&nbsp; institutional response to the changing needs of Guyana.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Contact:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ms. Krest Cummings&nbsp;</p>

<p>Public Relations Officer&nbsp;</p>

<p>Department of Events Conferences and Communications (DECC) 592-623-5104</p>
