Review for National Youth Policy
Youths faces a lot of issues such as the negative impact of social media, teenage pregnancies, crimes, unemployment and drugs. Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports Iliesa Delana, while opening the Northern Division Youth and Sports Conference at Civic Centre in Labasa yesterday, said youth problems would be highlighted in the National Youth Policy. “The National Youth Policy is currently under review amd aims to provide an enabling environment where youth development is mainstreamed into various and focal areas of national development,” he said.
“All these impact your daily lives and thus the Ministry of Youth is determined to find ways and mechanisms to assist our Fijian youth and evolve given the resources we have.
“Youths are becoming more vocal and visible regarding their issues. This should help us provide immediate and effective interventions.” The Northern Division Youth and Sports conference is attended by 120 youths from the Cakaudrove, Bua and Macuata provinces.
He said youths should be more vocal during the three workshops because the National Youth policy would be beneficial to them. “With the current trend and impact of social media, as leaders and youth practitioners, we need to shift our paradigms because society needs to use media responsibly,” Mr Delana said.
“Youths are becoming more vocal and visible regarding your issues; this should help us provide immediate and effective interventions.
“Many critical global issues affect young people like drugs, crime, teenage pregnancies, unemployment, early school dropouts, climate change and many more.” Mr Delana said the current young generation faced numerous challenges and many times youths lacked the much-needed support from relevant stakeholders. “Young people now and in the future will play a big role in how our world adapts to these challenges. With youth come energy, innovation and optimism if we create supportive environments and opportunities for this,” he said.
“The challenge of creating jobs and opportunities for the large global youth population entering the labour market is one of the major challenges our world faces. “The devastating impact of natural disasters, global environment challenges, including the cost of climate change, is also mounting.
“These issues impact all countries, but threaten especially the poorest and the most vulnerable,” he said.
The first draft of the National Youth Policy should be ready by November.