GEORGETOWN – Chargé d’Affaires Bryan Hunt recently met with Annette Jaundoo upon her return from the United States after participating in the prestigious Embassy-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) exchange.
Mrs. Jaundoo participated in an IVLP exchange on “Human and Civil Rights for All,” from June 7 – 30, 2014. Jaundoo, who is the Executive Director for a USAID-supported non-governmental organization – Family Awareness Consciousness Togetherness (FACT), shared her IVLP experience with the Chargé d’Affaires and U.S. Embassy representatives.
She underscored the value of this experience and discussed how she intends to apply the knowledge gained to the benefit of her organization and the NGO Coordinating Committee for HIV/AIDS service NGOs and more particularly, members of the LGBT community. She also pledged to work more closely with faith-based organizations, the private sector, and grassroots agencies towards strengthening alliance for the LGBT community.
During the program, Mrs. Jaundoo and her counterparts from the Caribbean visited several cities, including Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, Little Rock, Arkansas, Des Moines, Iowa, and San Francisco, California.
These visits provided varied insights and understanding of how civil society organizations support the LGBT community and influence human rights policy at the local, state, national, and international levels in the United States.
Through in-depth discussions, meetings, and site visits, Mrs. Jaundoo and her colleagues had the opportunity to review the legal and political framework for recent advances in civil and economic rights for LGBT Americans, as well as international and hemispheric initiatives for the protection of LGBT human rights. Participants also explored the evolution of public opinion in the United States during the past two decades and the influence of both traditional and social media.
Chargé d’Affaires Hunt reaffirmed the U.S. Government’s commitment to work with and strengthen the role of civil society organizations and advocates on behalf of human rights issues within and through multilateral fora. He encouraged Mrs. Jaundoo to build on the many professional linkages made with U.S. institutions and other IVLP participants from countries throughout the Caribbean to strengthen her work and that of her organization for the benefit of Guyanese people.
The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is the Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. The program brings together emerging leaders in their respective professions to learn how U.S. experts in their professions operate, and to share best practices with the other program fellows who hail from across the globe. To date, approximately fifty Guyanese mid-level professionals have participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program.
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