Young people from across the Region will have an opportunity to interact with the CARICOM Secretary General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque via social media on 29 June 2015. The event, which is happening just before the Thirty Sixth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Barbados, is an initiative of the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #askSG on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Persons can share their questions and comments via any of these media, which will be monitored by the CYAs.
The Secretary General will be available from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm to answer questions and host a discussion with the participating youngsters. The main topic of discussion will be ‘Entrepreneurship: CARICOM’s Economic Life-jacket’. According to Kishore Shallow, Vice Dean of Communications for the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors, many scholars share the view that entrepreneurship is the key to solving the problem of unemployment which is a major challenge for CARICOM countries. He said he thinks entrepreneurship could provide a major boost for CARICOM economies, and reduce the strain on governments, which could then divert more energy and resources to other critical areas such as health and education
One of the main objectives of the social media interaction is to expose young people across the Region to the work of the CARICOM Secretariat and its organs. It also aims to highlight the strides made by the CARICOM Secretariat in the area of youth engagement and development. It will also allow the Secretary-General to share his opinion on entrepreneurship and give the average young person a chance to “interact” with him while sharing their views and opinions on CARICOM-related issues.
This is not the first social media interaction with youth and the CARICOM Secretary-General. More than 37 000 hits were received from users of the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Facebook page from one held in January 2014. It was hosted at the Secretariat’s headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana, and its purpose was to expose young people across the Region to the work of the CARICOM Secretariat and its organs.
The forum was hosted in two parts. The first was spearheaded by Assistant Secretary-General in charge of Human and Social Development, Dr. Douglas Slater. Issues related to the CARICOM Youth Development Action Plan, which was developed to guide national policy, integrated planning and action regarding youth, were discussed.
Shallow said the CYA’s chose to have another social media interaction with the CARICOM Secretary-General for young people because they have realised its value in sensitising them about topical issues in the Region, as well as to share and to receive feedback. It is hoped that this one will receive even more attention from the youth than the one last year.
