Georgetown : Cabinet has agreed to terminate the agreement between the Government of Guyana and the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Government spokesman Dr. Roger Luncheon briefing the media explained that this was done at the request of the organisation which indicated that they would no longer be providing the services to Guyana.
The VSO service is an agreement that has seen over the years, volunteers from the United States of America assigned to Guyana in a number of different fields in the social sector.
However as the US VSO programme ends in Guyana, Government has agreed to accept a request by CUSO International to execute a similar agreement.
CUSO International (formerly CUSO-VSO) was created in 2008 from the merger of two development agencies: CUSO was founded in 1961, originally as Canadian University Service Overseas. VSO Canada started in 1995. Combined, they placed some 15,000 volunteers in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.
Each year, CUSO International sends hundreds of volunteers to work on collaborative development projects in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
The organization will essentially be replacing the US VSO in Guyana with the provision of the same skills in the social sector, Dr. Luncheon stated.
CUSO Guyana will address three basic issues confronting rural communities in : the need to increase production in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner; increasing the income of marginalised communities and enhancing the ability of rural people to have better control over their livelihoods.
The programme will be executed with both government and non-governmental organisations.
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