National Youth Council aims to help reduce crime next year
FRESH ON the heels of its successful annual general meeting, the National Youth Council of Jamaica (NYCJ) has announced a $5.9-million partnership with National Integrity Action (NIA) to promote violence-reduction strategies in parishes across the island. Hailing this as a historic success for the organisation, NYCJ Chairman Jerome Palmer used the occasion to champion the importance of community-based organisations in shaping youth across the island.
“This partnership came out of the National Youth Council’s initiative to reduce violence from a local level through the use of community-based organisations by 2020,” Palmer told The Sunday Gleaner.
“The partnership was solidified through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information because the NYCJ is a programme of the ministry.”
Currently, the NYCJ represents more than 500 community-based organisations. Its mandate is to
■ increase youth participation in community-based organisations across the island.
■ champion the National Youth Policy and promote youth advocacy.
■ enable sustainable development and training for community-based organisations.
The memorandum of understanding, signed last week, equips the NYCJ to educate community-based groups in Westmoreland, St James, Clarendon, St Elizabeth, and St Catherine in violence-prevention training and youthengagement strategies. As outlined by Palmer, the partnership will assist the NYCJ in implementing its violencereduction strategies, which include:
■ Going into secondary schools and working with youth who demonstrate continuous disruptive behaviour;
■ Entering communities that have seen a resurgence in violence in order to engage with youth to lead a project that aims to reduce crime in that community;
■ Implementing training with all the clubs in their parishes to ensure that they know how to execute violencereduction strategies.
The NYCJ has also partnered with the JN Wise Aspiring Youth Programme (JN WAY), which would have enabled the organisation, for the first time in its history, to have community-based organisations register bank accounts through the National Youth Council. Through this partnership, clubs can acquire bank accounts more easily, get access to additional funding, and benefit from financial literacy training. Currently, the NYCJ is looking for partnerships with other organisations to expand this success and facilitate sustainable community development.
Previous successes of the organisation include hosting the National Youth’s Council Annual General Meeting at the Pembroke Hall Primary School on November 16, where more than 400 youths participated in the assembly and each parish presented its activities for the previous year.
Additionally, the organisation launched its parish tour in all 14 parishes. Respective club leaders received training in skills including meeting management, agenda setting, advocacy, and fundraising.
Palmer pointed out that many donors are willing to give funding, but community-based organisations do not know how to apply for these funds, an issue the NYCJ aims to address.
The NYCJ also undertook a recycling project, known as the Green Path Initiative, as well as increased its advocacy for community-based issues through media.
The council is looking forward to using community-based organisations to go into zones of special operations (ZOSOs) to lead youth engagement and development and violence prevention.
“Even if there is no community-based organisation in these zones, we want to go inside there and help to start some,” Palmer stated.
As Gareth Warren, president of the Clarendon Parish Youth Council, highlighted: “The NYCJ has reignited the flames of volunteerism, youth advocacy, and youth participation since 2018.”