“We want to see action,” CARICOM Youth Commissioners declare

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)    With less than two weeks ahead of the Special Summit of CARICOM Heads of Government on Youth Development – the first of its kind since the Community’s inception – members of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development say they are looking for all Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community to attend and to commit to “tangible action,” beyond the two day summit, slated for Suriname on 29-30 January.

“After the report has been presented; after the nice speeches have been delivered; after the Heads of Government and the young people have discussed the report, I want to see action; I want to see implementation; I want to see progress,” asserts Saint Lucia’s Youth Commissioner,  Marvin Edgar.

Co-chaired by Suriname’s Yldiz Beighle and Jamaica’s Barry Chevannes, the 15-member Commission accepted a mandate from the 27th Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government to research the situation of Caribbean youth ages 10-29. The Commission’s journey which began in Suriname on March 5, 2007 has come full circle and will end in Suriname on 29 January 2010 when they submit their Report – titled Eye on the Future: Invest in YOUTH NOW, for the Community Tomorrow – with broad-based policy driven recommendations on how the Community can improve the well-being of young people who make up two-thirds of the region’s population.

Satisfied that they have done their best in carrying out the research and representing the millions of voices of young people in the Community,  the commissioners now anticipate that CARICOM Heads of Government will do all that lies within their power to advance the region’s youth development agenda.

“We have ensured that every component of the youth sector was represented in the research, says, Saint Lucia’s Armstrong Alexis who served as one of the technical experts on the Commission:

“I would really not be the happiest camper if at the end of the day the report is seen as just another report. I would want to see the work that we have done…viewed as a watershed period in youth development in the region,” he declares.

Describing the journey as an emotional one, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ravi Lutchman says he was reduced to tears by some of the stories told by young people within the Community …. As a result he is “expecting and hoping that they (Heads of Government) will appreciate the urgency of acting upon the recommendations of the Report.”

“I am hoping that the reality of the findings will impact them and hasten tangible actions.”

The report examines critical issues including education, migration, health and well-being, crime and violence, youth dreams and aspirations, youth un-employment and employability, governance, politics and participation, all of which have implications for the continued development of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

A special feature of the Report is the comprehensive investigation into the situation of Haitian youth, the findings of which become even more poignant and pertinent in the face of further tragedy and displacement.

The major findings have prompted the Commission to call for – among other things – greater investment in youth and for young people to be accepted as equal partners in the decision-making and problem-solving processes of the region.

One of the most crucial points that the Commission wants to get across to Heads of Government, according to Armstrong Alexis is that “young people have made and continue to make a contribution to national development; therefore, investment must be made in youth in order to ensure that the pockets of excellence are spread to the majority.”

Echoing these sentiments, Jamaica’s Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts who was instrumental in conducting research on youth governance structures within the Caribbean is expecting to see as one of the outcomes of the Summit, a charter on youth as well as a set of youth development goals to guide the youth agenda for at least the next ten years.

Meanwhile, twenty-one year-old Kyle deFreitas the youngest Commissioner from St Vincent and the Grenadines wants CARICOM Heads of Government “to make a firm commitment to act NOW for the future of the Community.”

It’s not going to be easy for them, adds Ravi Lutchman, “but it has to be done.”