Guyana Launches Nationwide Consultation on Improving Villages

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana's government on Monday launched a nationwide consultation process aimed at creating a new standard for how villages across the country should look and function, with the long-term goal of improving the quality of life for residents in communities throughout the country.

President Irfaan Ali meeting villagers at the start of the nationwide consultation programme on improving villages on MondayThe consultations, spearheaded by President Irfaan Ali, mark the start of the government’s Model Villages initiative, which will initially focus on 23 villages before being expanded nationwide.

Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal said the consultations are intended to establish a baseline for village development, identifying what communities should look like in terms of infrastructure, public spaces, recreation and overall appearance.

“We have identified 23 model villages. Starting today, all of those communities will be engaged,” Croal said at the first consultation, explaining that the initiative is about ensuring villages are well maintained, with public spaces kept to a high standard and more recreational facilities developed.

The programme will involve several government agencies, including the Ministries of Public Works, Local Government and Regional Development, and Housing and Water, along with utility providers Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI).

President Ali said the programme is intended to ensure that the rapid transformation taking place in Georgetown, the capital, is also reflected in villages across the country.

“We want development to reach every single citizen and we want the transformation of Georgetown to also be in communities,” he said, that achieving that goal will require cooperation between central government, regional and neighbourhood democratic councils, and residents themselves.

“It requires partnership. It requires citizens and NDCs, RDCs, government doing what is right. It requires all of us working together,” he said, noting that the initiative is about more than improving physical infrastructure.

He said better-planned villages can create opportunities for economic growth while preserving the identity and character of communities.

“It is the economic empowerment that comes with such transformation,” Ali said, describing the programme as one that will eventually reach every village in Guyana.

“The village remains the dominant human settlement. Almost three out of every four Guyanese still live in villages.. The village remains central to the life of our nation.”

He added that meaningful national development cannot happen unless it reaches the village level.

“If we are serious about giving people quality of life, development must reach the level of the village,” Ali said, cautioning against simply romanticising the past noting that many villages historically lacked proper roads, drainage, street lighting and community facilities, while population growth has outpaced infrastructure in many areas.

He said the focus is on creating well-planned communities built around three priorities: connectivity through improved physical infrastructure, rebuilding the social fabric of communities, and creating opportunities for commerce and business development.