Manickchand recognized by Commonwealth for Workforce Recovery Initiative

Having engaged extensively with the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) to launch the Workforce Recovery Initiative in Guyana along with Coursera, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand was recognized as a Commonwealth Wise Woman and is now a mentor on the Commonwealth Wise Woman Mentoring Project.

The Ministry in a press statement noted that Manickchand was instrumental in launching the Workforce Recovery Initiative program in Guyana that offered 4000 free online courses to Guyanese from reputable Universities through Coursera.

Guyana has become the leading country as it relates to persons registered and graduates, the Ministry said noting that over 53,371 Guyanese registered to pursue courses in various areas and 43,305 certificates have been issued to 9,473 persons.

According to the Commonwealth of Learning, through the Commonwealth Wise Women (CWW) Mentoring project, the organisation plans to engage girls and women at the grassroots level in underserved communities to become part of the program. With this, it plans to promote change by empowering girls and women to become leaders.

Minister Manickchand joins other global leaders as mentors such as the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning, Professor Asha Kanwar, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies Open Campus, Dr. Luz Longsworth, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, The Rt. Patricia Scotland QC and fellow Guyanese Dr. Paulette Henry.

The Minister also plans to launch the Guyana Chapter of the Commonwealth Wise Women Mentoring Project to assist girls and women to recognize their value and achieve their full potential.

She plans to involve mentors from all sectors to help with the successful mentoring of candidates from all across Guyana, according to the statement.