Founder and Executive Director of STEMGuyana, Karen Abrams, sees access to finance to fuel the vision of the organisation as a major challenge.
STEMGuyana has a mandate to build Guyana’s tech future one child at a time.
In an interview that will air this Sunday on SOURCES, Ms. Abrams explained that when the organization was founded and launched in 2018, finances poured in from family and friends, but not enough from Government and Corporate Guyana. She said that challenge remains the same today, although the organisation has expanded nationwide.
“I would tell you honestly for the whole period, I would say for the first five years, we were able to gather funds here and there, but not so much that it funded the whole thing. Most of the money to fund the whole thing that year came from us, our family, myself and my husband. We were just committed to it….[but] financing has always been a struggle. And so as far as embraced by government or a big donation or big funding, that never happened. It never happened through Government,” Abrams said.
But despite the financial difficulties, STEMGuyana has created an impressive network of young innovators, leaders, and problem-solvers through the provision of equitable access to world-class STEM education, tools, and experiences.
To date, it has served over 20,000 students across the 10 Administrative Regions, and trained approximately 200 mentors.
Among the programmes launched is the Learning Pods initiative.
In 2022, STEMGuyana received US$950,000 from IDB Lab to help 1,000 children across 40 communities in all 10 Regions as part of a three year programme.
Through the Learning Pods, STEMGuyana provides in person and tech driven learning support for students, particularly those in vulnerable communities.
However, Abrams said now that the IDB funds have dried up, STEMGuyana has been forced to scale back the programme.
At present there are only seven Learning Pods in operation.
“We were in 40 locations around the country and now we are down to seven locations. And we were able to get Scotia Bank to fund five of them and get MODEC to fund two of them. As I think about it, we are an oil economy, and we are growing and every company in this country should be sponsoring at least one of those locations,” Abrams said.
Though STEMGuyana was forced to close the majority of the Learning Pods, Abrams said all is not lost. She explained that the affected children have now joined the Pathway Online Academy – Guyana’s premier AI-integrated online afterschool programme.
The programme blends education with cutting-edge technology to improve students performance in subjects such as Math, Science and English.
Earlier this month, ExxonMobil launched a US$100 million STEM Education Initiative with a focus on teacher training, and hands on learning opportunities for students.
Abrams said she has taken note of the project, and remains open to work with both the Government and corporate Guyana to advance children’s education in the country through technology.
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