CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE Region Six (6) East Berbice-Corentyne Ministry of Communities Building cohesive, empowered and sustainable communities CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) 1 East Berbice-Corentyne Published by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 72 Brickdam, Georgetown, Guyana. South America. www.unicef.org/guyana Unicef Guyana & Suriname UNICEF GUYANA & SURINAME United Nations Children’s Fund September 2017 2 CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) Table of Contents Regional Profile .............................. 4 Background ..................................... 5 Child Development ...................... 7 Child Protection ............................ 8 Water and Sanitation .................. 9 Vaccinations ................................ 10 Nutrition ....................................... 11 Reproductive Health ............... 12 East Education .................................... 13 Berbice-Corentyne 6 Health ........................................... 14 Other ............................................ 15 Conclusions ............................... 16 Annex .......................................... 17 There is no better investment in this world than investment in children. — President David Granger, August 21, 2017 CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) 3 East Berbice-Corentyne Region 6 East Berbice-Corentyne The East Berbice-Corentyne Region is the only one to include parts of all the four natural [geographic] regions: Coastal Plain, Intermediate Savannah, Hilly, Sandy and Clay Area and Forested Highland. It is also the only region with three towns: New Amsterdam, Rose Hall and Corriverton. The population of the Region is 142,839. This region, an important rice-producing, cattle-rearing and sugarcane-producing area, is very difficult to drain and irrigate. Because of this, the Torani Canal was dug to join the Berbice River and the Canje Creek. Water flows between the two and provides adequate water for irrigating the land between them. The area of Black Bush Polder, which used to be a large swamp, was established as a land development scheme. The Government of Guyana gave people land for houses and for farming rice and their own kitchen farms. Herds of cattle are reared for beef and dairy on the Intermediate Savannahs. Many of the other resources of the Region are not fully exploited. Logging is only conducted on a small scale. Location of Region 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne) 4 CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) Background Background Context The Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) are committed to the wellbeing and development of Guyanese children. The Government at the national and sub-national levels is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). UNICEF is the custodian or co-custodian of 10 of the SDG indicators (stunting, wasting/overweight, skilled attendance at birth, under five mortality, neonatal mortality, early childhood development, early marriage, FGM/C, child discipline and sexual violence against children). This commitment is demonstrated by their support for the generation and dissemination of evidence to inform the development of plans, policies, projects and programmes to address equity gaps in areas of survival, lifelong learning, protection, and participation of children. Need for Developmental Data Building sustainable communities is part of the Ministry of Communities’ mandate. An essential component of sustainable communities is being child-friendly. This effort to develop childfriendly regional data profiles is a repackaging of existing data, from empirical sources, in a way that is specific to a region and can be used by decision makers, to the fullest extent possible, for the realisation of child rights. It can also assist in supporting the achievement of the SDGs. Disaggregated data on social indicators are an essential component of evidence informed policies, plans, projects and programmes. It enables actors to effectively monitor progress toward the realisation of national and international goals and commitments and helps to measure whether these goals have been achieved and to what extent. Data supports national and sub-national governance structures to focus their interventions on the most deprived thereby reducing inequities and identifying capacity deprivations for corresponding capacity building initiatives. CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) 5 East Berbice-Corentyne Methodology The process of developing this risk-informed profile was participatory and involved varied stakeholders. For the social indicators the Multiple Cluster Indicators Survey (MICS) 2014 was used along with other national surveys, consultations were carried out with the Regional Administration and other stakeholders to present the findings, seek consensus and validate the processes. The data presented and the profile prepared represent a commitment by the Regional Administration and stakeholders to sustainable community development in a child friendly way. The profile indicates areas of achievements and areas of depravations, some of which are the lowest in the country. Undoubtedly the regional administration, national government, local actors and international development partners will work to address the issues the data unfolds. 6 CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) Child Development Child Development Achievements /Areas for Attention Fig. 1.1: Early Child Development Indexi 87.5 percent of the children of the region are developmentally on track in at least East Berbice-Corentyne 87.5% three of the following four domains: literacy-numeracy, physical, social- emotional, and learning. National 85.6% Fig. 1.2: Inadequate Careii Only 8.3 percent of children under age five are left alone or in the care of another East Berbice-Corentyne 8.3% child younger than 10 years more than one hour at least once within the week before the MICS survey. National 5.0% Fig. 1.3: Support for Learningiii An adult has engaged with 90.8 percent of children age 36-59 months in four or East Berbice-Corentyne 90.8% more activities to promote learning and school readiness in the previous three days. National 87.2% Fig. 1.4: Attendance to Early Childhood 62.6 percent of children age 36-59 months Educationiv attend an early childhood education programme. This is marginally higher than the national average (which also East Berbice-Corentyne 62.6% needs improvement). National 61.0% CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) 7 East Berbice-Corentyne Child Protection Achievements /Areas for Attention Fig. 2.1: Birth Registrationv Birth Registration is 93.4 percent which is higher than the national average of 88.7 East Berbice-Corentyne 93.4% percent. Efforts should be made to realise 100 percent. National 88.7% Fig. 2.2: Violent Disciplinevi Violent discipline of children is high at 71.6 percent and presents an area of work East Berbice-Corentyne 71.6% for all actors consistently. National 69.7% Fig. 2.3: Marriage Before Age 18 [Female]vii 24 percent of females were married before the age of 18. Child marriage correlates East Berbice-Corentyne 24.5% negatively with education of girls and completion of schooling which has many social impacts on the society. National 26.9% Fig. 2.4: Child Labourviii 18 percent of the region’s children are engaged in child labour which is East Berbice-Corentyne 18.0% associated with poor school attendance and school drop-outs. National 18.3% 8 CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) Water and Sanitation Water and Sanitation Achievements /Areas for Attention Fig. 3.1: Use of Improved Drinking 98.9 percent of the region’s population Water Sourcesix have access to improved drinking water sources. East Berbice-Corentyne 98.9% National 94.2% Fig. 3.2: Availability of Soap or Other 89.6 percent of the region’s population Cleaning Detergentsx has access to soap and other cleaning agents. This is more than 20 percent above the national average. East Berbice-Corentyne 89.6% National 68.7% Fig. 3.3: Use of Improved Sanitationxi The region places second out of the 10 administrative regions on improved sanitation with a national average of 86.9 East Berbice-Corentyne 96.0% percent having non-shared sanitation facilities. National 86.9% Fig. 3.4: Water Treatmentxii 37.5 percent of the population undertake some form of water treatment, whether through household treatment or through East Berbice-Corentyne 37.5% the provision of water purification guidelines. National 27.4% Fig. 3.5: Place for Handwashingxiii Only 8.4 percent of the region’s population have a place of hand-washing. This number must increase for the East Berbice-Corentyne 8.4% achievement of this SDG. Handwashing is linked to disease transmission and other National 57.5% health and wellness factors especially among children. CHILD-FRIENDLY REGIONAL PROFILE - Region Six (6) 9 East Berbice-Corentyne Vaccinations Achievements /Areas for Attention Fig. 4.1: Polio Immunisation Coveragexiv Childhood immunisation against Polio is 88 percent and 1.9 percent, lower than East Berbice-Corentyne 88.0% the national average. National 89.9% Fig. 4.2: Tuberculosis Immunisation Tuberculosis immunisation is high, 91 Coveragexv percent, but slightly below the national average. The exclusive goal is 100. East Berbice-Corentyne 91.0% National 94.6% Fig. 4.3: Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus DPT immunisation in the region is 90 (DPT) Immunisation Coverage percent, almost 1 percent above the national