First partner meeting in Georgetown, Guyana
The Darwin Initiative inception meeting took place on the 6th September 2017 at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs and gave project partners a first chance to discuss the key aspects of the project face-to-face
The meeting was also attended by Minister Sydney Allicock, who had insightful comments and inputs into the project goals and impacts. He emphasised the importance of using more locally, Indigenous owned words to describe the project, particularly relevant to the theory of change and the use of the term ‘poverty alleviation’.
“We are not poor despite being below the [official] poverty line. We are rich…we are going to help you build your riches, using more positive affirmations to help build confidence. We need to change the mindset that we are helpless and dependent”.
Discussions evolved around project activities, methods and monitoring and evaluation. There was also a presentation of the draft of the traditional knowledge policy review, a baseline against which the project will assess its approach to integrate traditional knowledge in Guyana.
