About Help and Shelter

• Studies of domestic violence in Guyana estimate that between 1 and 2 in every 3 women are victims. We also know that domestic violence against children, against the disabled and against the elderly is endemic
• Help and Shelter's mission is to is to work towards the elimination of violence in all its forms by helping to create a society where attitudes to use of violence and practices of violence have been transformed
• In a client base of over 8,000 persons, 85% are female and 80% victims of spousal abuse

Help and Shelter was the brainchild of a support group created in 1994 as an adjunct to the Georgetown Legal Aid Clinic (now Guyana Legal Aid Clinic). We are a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. The members in general meeting elect our board of directors annually and day-to-day operations are carried out by a combination of paid staff and project personnel and volunteers (who maybe, but are not necessarily, members of the company).

Since its establishment in November 1994, Help & Shelter has become a recognised leader in the fight against violence in Guyana, particularly in the areas of domestic, sexual and child abuse. Domestic violence takes a heavy toll on the individual’s emotional and physical health and has high social and economic costs for families, communities, workplaces and the country as a whole.

Our goals are:

• To work to build respect for the right of women, children,youth and men to live free of violence and the threat of violence, by actively fostering a high level of awareness among all sectors - governmental and non-governmental - about the prevalence, causes and costs of violence, including violence in the home and in other personal relations; and about alternatives to the use of violence through public education, advocacy and networking with like minded individuals and groups
• To assist women, children, youth and men to develop alternative ways of handling power and resolving conflict by providing progressively enhanced counselling for victims and perpetrators of violence through counselling services, including a crisis hotline
• To widen options for victims of domestic violence by providing temporary shelter for abused women and their children, with training that can develop psychological and practical skills needed for increased self-sufficiency
• To provide a recourse for victims of domestic and sexual abuse by lobbying for the strengthening of relevant laws and implementation mechanisms where necessary
• To establish a resource base to ensure the sustainability of Help & Shelter by working towards the economic self-support of the proposed shelter and implementing a well-articulated fund-raising plan

For further information about us and the work we do and much more, please use the links on the left.