First Lady Arya Ali on Wednesday commissioned a centre for persons living with disabilities (PWDs) at Palmyra, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
The $130 million state-of-the-art Business Centre for Equity, Opportunity and Innovation is housed in the Empower Guyana Building.
The centre will facilitate the manufacturing of products and offer retail space, technical training, and therapy for persons living with disabilities.
The centre will have five workstations for production, a boardroom, a therapy room, a cafeteria, and washroom facilities. The commercial space’s goal is to provide people with disabilities with a platform to market the goods they produce.
According to the First Lady, the centre will directly employ 120 persons with disabilities, providing not just jobs, but dignity, purpose, and a chance to contribute to the nation’s development in real, visible ways.
The first workstation will offer web services such as online marketing and tech repairs for small electronics, while the second workstation will allow for the creation of arts, crafts, and souvenirs. The third station will focus on garment construction and screen printing, and the fourth will provide catering and commercial food preparation services. The fifth station will serve as a general-purpose station.
The First Lady pointed out that products made at the centre will be displayed in the retail space, along with those products directly supplied by other entrepreneurs with disabilities. The centre is also outfitted with a therapy room for wellness and mental health sessions, a cafeteria to build community and camaraderie, an administrative office to support daily operations, and a training room.
“We believe that leadership and innovation must come from within these walls, not just from outside of them,” the First Lady said.
There is also a shade house, which will be managed by those employed at the centre.
“This is not charity. This is what inclusive development looks like, and we support the policies and those actions. This is the kind of progress that your government, the People’s Progressive Party Civic Government, is committed to developing throughout Guyana,” the First Lady expressed.
The First Lady also took time out to thank the Chinese Embassy for their assistance with the project. The centre is the first of its kind in the Caribbean region.
And according to the First Lady, it is the first of the others to be established across the country.
