CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Co-chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Youth Development, (CCYD) Professor Barry Chevannes has described preliminary research findings on the situation of Caribbean youth as “rich and interesting yet disturbing.”
At the close of the Commission’s three-day meeting in Haiti on Thursday Professor Chevannes told members of the Haitian media that the evidence indicated that while Caribbean youth displayed creativity and great resilience there was a sense of apathy among Caribbean youth toward the Caribbean Community and particularly its flagship programme, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). This he said in many instances was caused by an information and knowledge gap among young people about the Community.
During the Commission’s two-day deliberations, presenters highlighted regional issues and trends distilled from a review of the literature on Caribbean adolescents and youth and from preliminary reports on several critical youth related issues.
What was particularly interesting about the findings, the Co-Chair said was that the issues were common across the Region: in small and large, rich and poor States and that many youth viewed education as the escape route from poverty and the key to greater participation and accessing benefits of the CSME.
According to the co-chair an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data also revealed a sense of displacement, disempowerment and hopelessness among Caribbean Youth and pointed to the need for the Community to strengthen existing mechanisms that would empower and engage young people and facilitate ownership of the Community.
He noted that the findings revealed relationships bordering on suspicion and antagonism between youth in Lesser Developed Countries and those in more developed States and opined that this kind of relationship undermined the ideals of the CSME and must be addressed urgently.
Another trend emerging from the research findings was the issue of a Caribbean Identity: Professor Chevannes said many young people in the Caribbean identified more readily with the North American culture and indicated no wish to remain in the Caribbean or to identify with things Caribbean.
The CARICOM Commission on Youth Development arose out of a mandate from the 27th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government held in St. Kitts and Nevis in July 2006. The Mandate is to “provide a full scale analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and to make recommendations on how to improve their well-being and empowerment.
The Commission held its third meeting in Haiti to discuss preliminary research findings and to develop a plan of action to complete its Report, which should be discussed by the special Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in May 2009, prior to its submission to the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government in July 2009.
The next step for the Commission, according to Co-Chair Yldiz Bieghle is to validate the research findings and further outline strong recommendations to address the situation of Caribbean youth. The recommendations, she said, should both enhance the capabilities of youth leadership and at the same time identify ways in which to reduce the risks faced by Caribbean youth, especially the poor and underprivileged, the incapacitated and the otherwise vulnerable.
