Caribbean youth encouraged to make their voices heard on development issues
YOUTH FROM across the Caribbean are being encouraged to make their voices heard in the “overall” national and regional development.
Addressing the opening of a four-day Caribbean Youth Summit (CYS), at the AC Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on November 22, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Youth, Marsha Smith, said the region is at the midpoint of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and voices need to gel to achieve success.
“We are recognising that coming out of the COVID-19 [pandemic], there needs to be a resetting, a coming together again at the table, to see where we are, and where those goals are related,” the state minister said.
“You meeting here today is very important to ensure that this partnership is sustained. While we grapple with issues like climate change, and other issues, the ground zero of them is in the homes, and this forum is a real opportunity for our Caribbean youth to share their different perspectives. Take hold of the opportunities and impart them to national policymakers,” Smith told the participants.
The SDGs are geared towards ending poverty in all its forms, ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, promoting sustainable agriculture, ensuring healthy lives, promoting well-being for all, ensuring inclusive equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
CARICOM is staging the inaugural CYS i n partnership with the Caribbean Regional Youth Council, the Ministry of Education and Youth, with funding from the European Union-United Nations Spotlight Initiative Caribbean Regional programme, UN Development Programme, UN Population Fund, United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
The summit has brought together various categories of young people and critical stakeholders from across the Caribbean region to share ideas, experiences, and good practices, and to develop solutions to address gender-based violence and crosscutting issues.