KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – A three-day forum providing Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries with an opportunity to focus on policy responses to the global economic and financial crisis ends here on Tuesday.
More than 30 delegates are attending the inaugural Forum of Ministers with responsibility for Social and Sustainable Development in the Caribbean that is being held under the theme “’Social Development Strategies for the Caribbean Youth in the context of the economic crisis”.
The forum is being hosted by Jamaica and the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The organisers say it provides Caribbean states with an opportunity to focus on policy responses to the financial and economic crisis, as it impacts the region with particular emphasis on young people.
Jamaica’s Youth, Sports and Culture Minister, Olivia Grange, said the forum would provide CARICOM countries with another option to “identify concrete ways of addressing the developmental challenges we face”.
She said it would also allow for an opportunity for sharing best practices and for interventions leading to greater levels of co-operation within the region.
“The importance of evidence-based policymaking planning, programme formulation and implementation is even more relevant to this region, as we face uncharted waters in the explosion of our youth population. The theme for this conference calls on us to revisit how we plan and how we implement our policies and programmes to ensure that our greatest asset, our greatest human resource, is protected and nurtured,” she said, noting that CARICOM has been integral in facilitating dialogue among member states around the issue of youth development and youth mainstreaming.
“Important pieces of research have been commissioned by CARICOM, the results of which, so far, are alarming. This is now being analysed, and will be disseminated throughout the region. There are also other initiatives that are being spearheaded by CARICOM.
“Jamaica is now well advanced with the planning for the revision of its national youth policy. The first such policy was developed in 1994 and, since then, the policy has been revised every four years,” she added.
She said that several research initiatives undertaken during 2008/09, would inform the policy development process, including the CARICOM Youth Governance and Youth Dreams Survey, that the Minister said “has provided opportunities for young people throughout the region to air their vision, concerns, and their proposed solutions.”
“These pieces of research have been very valuable to Jamaica, and as we pursue other studies to fill the information gap, we look forward, not only for the revision of a policy document, but already, there are programmes being implemented and modified, based on the findings of the research work already completed.
“Much of this work is being supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, along with other UN agencies, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as other international and state agencies,” she said.
“This forum is a tangible expression of the commitment to social development and, in particular, putting youth development where it belongs, at the centre of our regional and national development programme,” Ms. Grange said.
It is time island states look to themselves for sustainance. Can’t depend on the Giants cause giants fall and when they do they fall hard!
We as a nation we should invest in agriculture, growing and keeping both plants and animals
make your own food, your own sugar, own milk, cheese, meat and meat products in turn creating employment for our people.
I guess our governments don’t think like that.