Disadvantage in Guyana is related not only to economic factors but also to lack of access to services such as education and health, and to powerlessness. The government recognises that social and economic conditions for the majority of Guyanese are harsh and that poverty hampers people s capacity to participate fully in the economy and in society. A recent rise in the number of people with much-needed skills, particularly teachers, emigrating to North America is also placing a burden on the social infrastructure. The VSO programme During the last four years, VSO Guyana has steered its programme towards meeting the needs of disadvantaged people more directly. Following the the strategic planning process in 1999, placements are now linked in a thematic approach, for example, VSO s main theme, of increasing people s access to basic social services, is met by volunteer placements in education, the health service and the technical sector.
Volunteers often work in geographical clusters which increases the impact they can have.
Classroom teachers in maths, science, English, IT and geography, work primarily in lower secondary schools in particularly disadvantaged areas. The project is a partnership between the Government of Guyana and the UK s Department for International Development, and it aims to reduce poverty by increasing the opportunities for poor and marginalised children to attend secondary school. VSO also works in tertiary education, for example, VSO maths and IT teachers are working to help increase standards at the University of Guyana, which has suffered from high failure rates in maths. One primary teacher trainer is currently working as part of a pilot programme in schools in disadvantaged areas of Georgetown. In health care, VSO volunteers work in the needy areas of physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, and in nurse training.