President of the National Youth Council (NYC), Senator Jaisiah Benoit, has urged Dominican youth to be majorly involved in the long-awaited reviewing of the National Youth Policy, which was officially launched on Wednesday.
“This Youth Policy that we are reviewing, it should be owned by the youth of this country,” he said, at the launching ceremony, this week. “We are the ones who should, in fact, give input, and we are the ones, in fact, who should take the most interest in the process.
The review process, headed by St. Lucia national, Consultant and Youth Development Expert, Henry Charles, is expected to take six months, from July 1 to December 31, 2016.
A series of focus group meetings and district consultations will take place to communicate with stakeholders and young persons. Benoit called on youth officers and district youth councils to ensure that there be “adequate youth representation from every committee across the country” at each such meeting.
“Let’s see how we can bridge that gap, and work together to identify youth leaders to give effective participation at those consultations,” he advised.
Benoit also stressed the importance of relaying the terms of the policy to youth in layman terms for their understanding.
“We will need to translate it, so to speak, from the professional language that may be in the document to what it really means for a young person…” Benoit elaborated. “We need to ensure that every young person understands their role, not just as a student, or not just as a young person entering the labour force, but as model citizen, recognizing that the shaping of the minds of our youth is as critical as it is to develop our tourism industry.”
He added that “the minds of our youth are this country’s greatest asset.”
The revised National Youth Policy is expected to address current issues among youth, such as obesity, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, and school drop-outs, and will highlight the rights and responsibilities of young people.
A major national consultation is scheduled for September, from which qualitative data will be gathered. A drafting team will then produce a final draft of the revised policy to be presented to Cabinet.
Correction: well ….not we’ll.
Comment directed at Benoit, Johnie, readers etc.
We’ll reach out to the councils and committies, communicate in a major way, get with them to help push this idea to the end user. Gov’t and councils should be one.
Very proud of Young Mr.Benoit
yet you all have destroyed the youth of Dominica – such hypocrisy – yes the youths are the future !1 where is that trajectory for the youths? All industry and hope of economy has been destroyed – Are we going to teach them how to sell passports? This nonsense has to stop