December 5th, 2017 -- Seventeen year old, CFBC Student Jermellia Henry has been awarded the top prize in a CDEMA/UNICEF Youth Online Competition, by creating a jingle focusing on Disaster Management among young people in the Caribbean.
The prize for Ms. Henry’s successful Jingle submission includes participation in the Award Ceremony during the 10th hosting of CDEMA’s Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management. Ms. Henry is accompanying Deputy Disaster Coordinator, Mrs. Claricia Langley-Stevens, who is representing NEMA at the Conference in the Bahamas from December 4th to 9th, 2017.
“The contest was open to citizens and permanent residents of CDEMA participating states, of which St. Kitts-Nevis is one,” the DNDC said.
“NEMA is proud of Ms. Henry’s output, which comprised an audio production of a PSA, just 60 seconds long. It is our hope that her success will convince young people that they too have a significant role in community resilience and Disaster Management”, she said.
Jermellia Henry is also enrolled in the SKN CDM Youth Ambassadors, a youth centric version of the NEMA Volunteers charged with developing programmes and key messaging geared at their demographic.
The Coordinating Unit (CU) of CDEMA has shared that the agency is sensitive to the impact that disasters and climate change have on vulnerable populations including the youth. Accordingly Disaster Offices have been urged to embrace contributions from young adults in order to enhance their input to disaster risk reduction and the future of disaster management programmes in the region.
A Youth Session is convened each year during the Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Conference, demonstrating CDEMA’s commitment to educating and empowering youth and helping them to understand the risks they face and ways to manage them.
In response to CDEMA’s call to enable youth involvement in Disaster Management; the St. Kitts – Nevis Comprehensive Disaster Management Youth Ambassadors were launched at a ceremony held at NEMA Headquarters, Lime Kiln on November 8th this year.
Former CFBC Student Shajunee Gumbs was nominated and inducted as the first President of the SKN CDM Youth Ambassadors and an Executive was formed during the ceremony. In attendance were Ambassadors from both St. Kitts and Nevis along with SERTs (Student Emergency Response Teams) launched earlier this year as backup early response systems within schools.
The Youth Ambassadors engaged in their first training exercise at NEMA HQ last Saturday, 2nd December, which was facilitated by Mrs. Claricia Langley-Stevens, DNDC. Mrs. Stevens along with Jermellia Henry, travelled to CDM10 in the Bahamas, the following Sunday, December 3rd.
In an effort to understand ideology behind the newly formed group, President Shajunee Gumbs invites the public to embrace the agency’s creed.
Vesta I. Southwell
Public Relations Officer
5th December, 2017.
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