Basseterre, St. Kitts (January 25, 2005): Youth Director Geoffrey Hanley is in Barbados for a number of critical meetings with Commonwealth and CARICOM (Caribbean Community) officials in relation to youth development.
From January 25 to 27, the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre (CYPCC) will review occupational standards for youth work in the Caribbean with a view to strengthen worker competency. The improvement in recruiting practices and remuneration, in order to raise qualification profiles in the field, is also being discussed.
Director Hanley indicated that this has long been a concern of his department. We would like to see more persons undertaking youth oriented tasks as professionals with a mandate, he said. The service of volunteers are invaluable, but with the increasing demands of sustainable youth development there is a rising need to have more people employed in the field to operate on a fulltime basis.
A highlight of todays session features a Commonwealth Minister of Government presenting a paper on his administrations policy for youth empowerment and development and how the professionalising of youth work and youth workers can better satisfy policy objectives.
Participants of the three-day session will also examine job training for youth workers, public sector employability and classifications relative to youth work and development and the need to define guidelines for national consultations.
After the Commonwealth gathering, CARICOM will host the 4th Meeting of the Regional Committee of Directors of Youth Affairs on January 28. This conference was organized to review the outcomes of actions taken in response to recommendations from the previous meeting held in St. Kitts in August, last year.
A representative of the CARICOM Youth Ambassador Programme (CYAP) will make a presentation on the regional Work Programme 2005, Updated Strategic Framework 2005-2007 as well as the Youth Leadership Development Internship Programme.
Member states will also be updated on the final draft of the terms of reference and implementation plan for the CYA administered Mini-Grants Programme (Pilot Phase), which, seeks to provide funding to community-based organizations to tackle HIV/AIDS related issues.
Youth Director Hanley noted that the outcome of these meetings would greatly enhance the youth programmes of participating countries. He disclosed that relevant strategies would be implemented to help strengthen the national effort, which in turn will make for a stronger and unified region.
