The Ministry of Education this month launched its Hinterland Education Improvement Project (HEIP) in Lethem, Region Nine which kick-started a series of public consultations aimed at informing a five-year action plan.

More than 300 parents, teachers and students from Kumu, Kaicumbay, Arapaima, MocoMoco, Quarrie, Yupukari, Fly Hill, Katoka, Hiawa, St Ignatius, Quatata, Nappi and Parishara assembled on June 9th at the St Ignatius Benab in Lethem for the launching, the ministry said in a press release.

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2014 – More than 300,000 people from the flood prone region of East Demerara will benefit from reduced flooding and climate risks as a result of a US$11 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA) approved today by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank.

Nearly 90 percent of Guyana’s population lives in this narrow coastal plain, largely below sea level and vulnerable to climate change. Extreme rainfall in 2005 resulted in flooding and damages estimated at nearly 60 percent of GDP or US$465 million at the time. The impact on poverty was evident and many subsistence farmers, small business operators and vendors were affected.