Statistics on your community
Underused but valuable information on local communities could be found in the National Census Reports. The latest reports are based on the 2012 census. The information is hosted on the website of the Guyana Bureau of Statistics (Population and Housing Census).
From the census reports, we can get facts on over twenty-five different aspects of a community's population and its social, cultural, economic, and living conditions. Aspects include gender and ethnic composition, marital status, religious belief, main occupations, household size, and education level.
This information is provided for each village within an NDC. It can be used to help design social and economic projects, to conduct studies, and to identify vulnerable communities and groups within communities.
Use Google Earth to see your community from above and to track large changes
The various maps from the free Google Earth software program can provide useful data on the geography and physical environment of your community. The software is not real-time, but it allows you to look back in history (over several years and decades) to see how, for example, the coastline has changed, how the acreage under sugar has fluctuated, and how housing in your community has expanded.
Using Google Earth maps, you can also accurately measure locations, distances, and sizes (for example, of mining activity) and identify specific objects (for example, pollution streams in rivers). These maps are also useful as a base map to plot information, such as the location of particular households, land use, and services.
Research on local communities
Below are research works and studies on our local communities. Researchers can submit their works (web links or pdf files) to communities-guyana@outlook.com for posting here.
1) USING NATIONAL CENSUS DATA TO ASSESS SOCIAL VULNERABILITY OF VILLAGES TO MAJOR FLOODS: EAST COAST DEMERARA, GUYANA - Sherwood Lowe.
SUMMARY: Village-level socioeconomic and demographic data were used to construct an index of social vulnerability to major flood events for seventy coastal villages in Guyana.
Newspaper features on village life
Our major dailies often carry features on villages across the country. That is welcome. These features, however, are sometimes written superfically but still provide us an insight into life in parts of the country we do not know. Communities-GUYANA would like to see these write-ups also include details on community physical and social assets (houses of worship, small businesses, clubs, recreation facilities, etc); signs of betterment; quality of local governance; and the level of dynamlsm and activism. Core problems should also be highlighted.
STABROEK NEWS: The World Beyond Georgetown
GUYANA CHRONICLE: Focus on the village