Basseterre, St. Kitts (August 13, 2007): CARICOM Youth Ambassadors (CYAs) are mobilizing, after an August 07 to 10 meeting in Jamaica, to help the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD) achieve its mandate in charting a meaningful agenda for regional youth development.

The CYAs along with appointed national youth focal points will be on the frontlines in helping the Commission conduct a full-scale analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth between the ages of 10 to 29 in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME); and make recommendations on how to improve their well-being and empowerment. ~~Adz:Right~~

St. Kitts and Nevis' CYA Ian Richards said that this study is extremely important and will greatly assist the CYA Programme achieve its mandate of promoting the benefits available to young people under the CSME.

He noted that the success of the study is heavily dependent on the cooperation of stakeholders such as community and youth based organizations, public and private sector agencies, non-governmental organizations and unattached youth. Special mention was also made of the assistance required from the media to keep nationals abreast of ongoing developments. 

Youth activist Terry Morris, who also attended the meeting held at the Visitor's Lodge of the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, will serve as the national youth focal point.

The CCYD is comprised of seven (7) adult Commissioners and eight (8) youth Commissioners. It is co-chaired by Professor Barry Chevannes of the University of the West Indies and Yldiz Beighle, a retired CYA.

The CCYD was launched in March 2007, following a mandate of the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in Suriname in 2006. It will carry out a series of intense collection, gathering and analysis of data on myriad aspects of youth and youth-related issues such as unemployment, crime, education and migration. From that analysis the CCYD will submit a report with recommendations on how to best tackle the challenges, deal with the difficulties, highlight the opportunities available, and build on the successes of young people.

This report is expected to be presented at the next meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government in July 2008.

CYAs also used the opportunity to meet on issues surrounding the HIV/AIDS awareness PANCAP/CARICOM Mini-Grant Programme and discussed several Information and Communication Technology (ICT) driven initiatives that are being planned. Skills training workshops on Media Relations and Gender Mainstreaming were also held.