BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - MINISTER with Responsibility for Youth, Hon. Shawn Richards yesterday (Nov. 14) laid the National Youth Policy before Parliament.
The policy, which has been in draft phase for a number of years, was never fully completed, thus upon taking office the Minister pushed to have it finalized.
Earlier this year, the Government held a number of meetings with stakeholders to get their feedback and input on the new document.
During yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly, the Minister told the House that youths make up 30 to 40 percent of the resident population in St. Kitts and Nevis.
As such, he pointed out that this developmental period carries with it many challenges, which are relatively specific to the demographic.
Against that backdrop, Richards intimated that the goal of the new policy is to “mainstream the issues faced in ensuring that all youths in our Federation have a fair [and] equitable opportunity to succeed in becoming balanced, self-actualized [and] productive contributors to all areas of our society”.
According to the Minister, the policy therefore speaks to the creation of direct action-plans by the Government that would nurture inter-sectoral partnership and linkages with both public and private institutions.
Further, he stated that the policy also speaks to the empowerment of young people to take responsibility and spark initiatives with respect to a brighter future.
Additionally, he noted that “the policy would guide, support and nurture the national conscience and always consider the plight of the nation’s young people”.
“This policy is not some document that was conjured out of thin air nor is it the thought or work of any one individual. It is in fact the result of a process that began some 18-years ago.”
And according to the Minister, “The youths not only get a policy that speaks to their needs, but they also get a policy which gives them their own voice. Over the last 14 months the draft Youth Policy, which was produced over five years ago in 2013 was measured against current youth concerns.”
With the assistance of the UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Government was able to design tools to measure the major concerns of the young people.
Coming off that measurement, the Minister disclosed four major areas of concern among youths:
• Violence involving youth;
• Gang recruitment and involvement;
• Lack of economic engagement and mobility; and
• Having no voice meaning not listen to nor consented on matters of national importance.
To this end, he noted that it is timely that “we listen to the people who are living to these issues and the day-to-day challenges”.
