A regional financial institution will be banking more on the success of young people during the next five years.
Vice-president of operations at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Monica La Bennett, said that this increased support would be necessary if any of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs) were to be achieved.
“We recently approved our strategic plan for 2020-2024 and that places increased focus on youth development, recognising that this demographic will be a critical pillar if the region is to achieve its SDGs,” La Bennett said.
She gave this commitment on Tuesday during the opening of the Caribbean Regional Youth Council’s 6th Caribbean Youth Leaders’ Summit here at the Hyatt Regency in the twin-island state’s capital.
Some of the goals which countries have agreed to tackle by 2030 include decreasing extreme poverty, giving people better health care, and achieving equality for women.
In addition to programmes such as the Cultural Creative Industry Fund, which was set up in 2017 to kickstart careers in music, film, animation, fashion and design, and gaming, La Bennett said they were also working on a youth policy and operational strategy (YPOS) to further work in the area.
And she explained that forums such as the youth summit provided the opportunity for young people to make a contribution.
“Our internal position is that youth development is important for us. we see our involvement in this activity as being one that provides us with benefits on several levels.
“There are many entry points that information coming through from here could be fed into the programme we want to adopt, so this will help us to better define the programme that we want to roll out under the YPOS,”she added.
The Youth Summit is held under the theme Promoting Youth Economic Empowerment: Building Synergies Towards Sustainable Caribbean Development. Close to 200 regional youth leaders from Jamaica, St Lucia, The Bahamas, and Barbados are attending. (TG)
