DRAFT REPORT OF CARICOM COMMISSION ON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSED

November 17, 2009

A meeting on the Draft of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development is underway at the Sports Council Conference Room in Belize City. The report is an assessment involving young people between the ages of 15 and 29 in 12 CARICOM nations. The meeting is being hosted by Youth for the Future and includes representatives from UNICEF, CARICOM, the Ministry of Education and the Police Department among others. Doctor Hilary Brown is the Program Manager for Committee and Development at the CARICOM Secretariat.

Doctor Hilary Brown; Program Manager, Committee and Development at the CARICOM Secretariat

"I have come to Belize to participate in national consultations on the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development Draft Report. In 2006 the Heads of Government of CARICOM established a CARICOM Commission on Youth Development to do an assessment of what is the situation with young people in the region. What are they facing? What are their challenges? What are their dreams and aspirations? What will help to keep him here? Why do they leave? What are some of the challenges they face? So, the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development was actually established in 2007; it is made up of young people and older people working together in partnership. They have done research and have spoken with six thousand young people across the region and they have put together a draft report which will go to the Heads of Government in January. The draft will report on their findings and their conclusions."

As the Department of the Ministry of Youth tasked with the responsibility to empowering young people Youth for the Future was called upon to put together the Belize Research team. Director Dianne Finnegan explains.

Dianne Finnegan; Director, Youth for the Future

"In 2007 we were required to put together a survey on youth’s dreams and aspirations. I feel that it is something that has an already been done, that has been going on here in our country but CARICOM chose to take it at a regional level. They have chosen to compile all this with the different ideas and concerns coming from youths around the region and for us to see where we are so similar in the issued affecting our young people and the direction we want to take from here on. This complements what we already knew; what we had already done through our own surveys here in Belize. The direction that we plan to take is really to create an atmosphere were young people have a voice; and atmosphere where they actually can see themselves as belonging, as being a part of the decision making in our country and that they actually play a role in what is affecting them and our country on a whole."

The intent of the CARICOM commission is to ‘Undertake a full scale analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and make recommendations to improve their well-being and empowerment.’

Doctor Hilary Brown; Program Manager, Committee and Development at the CARICOM Secretariat

"Young people want to be consulted; they want to be part of the process. They want to contribute to the solutions; they do not they do not want to be seen as the problem, they want to be recognized for their contribution. We tend to give young people a lot of credit for their contribution in sports and in culture, music and so on. But in addition to the big things that we see young people doing in the region there are also some very ordinary everyday things that young people contribute to so we need to recognize their contribution. One of the main recommendations of the commission is that CARICOM Governments need to in youth; they need to put more money in the youth ministries, they need to put more money in youth programs, they need to address the education system where young people are concerned. Young people have said very clearly through this research that education is not meeting their needs, irrelevant in many cases, does not adequately prepare them for the job market and certainly we have seen where out education system does not really create an ideal Caribbean citizen. Essentially the commission is making a strong statement that we need stronger investments in youth and that we need to change the way that we think about youth and their parts in the development process."

Today’s meeting will include a consultation with policy makers starting at two o’clock this afternoon.

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