On Sunday 21 September, Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, led an Intergenerational Dialogue on youth-driven solutions to key development challenges in the global south.
The event, hosted by Unstoppable Africa on the sidelines of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, highlighted the importance of youth-led innovations, legislative reform for their inclusion in decision-making, and trust in their capacity to drive changes toward sustainable development.
“Very often you hear that young people feel outside of the loop, that no one is taking them on, that they’re not getting an opportunity,” Prime Minister Mottley said, reflecting on her own entry into public life at age 23.
“Unless your generation claims the future and works to make the future a better place from today, you’re going to be challenged with all kinds of problems as we’re seeing,” she charged the young people in the audience.
Engaging with Christian Williams, an attorney and activist from Jamaica, and Zagy Berian, founder of the Society of Renewable Energy in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mottley invited perspectives on how youth collaboration across the Global South could address issues such as mental health, economic challenges, global conflict, and the climate crisis.
Ms. Williams called for young people to be recognised not only as beneficiaries of policies and programmes, but as co-creators of solutions. She said that while some governments are passionate about youth engagement, this commitment fluctuates with changes in leadership. In this context, she advocated for legislation mandating youth inclusion.
“We want to get to a place where through legislation we ensure that young people must be at the table… and it should not be tokenistic,” she stated.
Prime Minister Mottley invited Mr. Berian to share his experience as a young innovator in Indonesia’s renewable energy sector, noting the challenge youth face in securing funding and visibility.
Mr. Berian explained that his organisation began six years ago with ten members advocating at the university level. Their work focused on underserved rural communities with limited access to water and energy.
Starting with small water projects powered by renewable energy, they used crowdfunding to expand. Within three years, he said they scaled up to 120 locations and gained government recognition.
Click this link to see the full Intergenerational Dialogue on youth-driven solutions to key development challenges in the global south, led by Prime Minister Mottley.
Editor’s Notes:
The CARICOM Youth Development Programme advances key priorities under the CARICOM Strategic Plan for Youth Participation, Empowerment, and Development, primarily through the implementation of (1) the CARICOM Youth Development Action Plan (CYDAP) and (2) the CARICOM Youth Ambassador Programme (CYAP).
Some of the groundbreaking initiatives the CARICOM Secretariat is currently implementing to support youth are the CARICOM Young Professionals Programme: cultivating leadership and career development across sectors and CARICOM Youth Mental Health First Aid Programme: promoting wellness and resilience among Caribbean youth.