The nearly $43.7 million budgeted for by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment will be used to build out the various programmes, projects for youth and communities and shore up existing ones during Government’s next financial year beginning April 1.
On Wednesday, Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Charles Griffith said during discussions on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure in the House of Assembly they had “embarked on a number of proactive programmes that will see our young persons [aged nine to 29] move to another level”.
“Outside of the programming, it is our desire to have the Division of Youth Affairs within this ministry move to the pinnacle of youth work in the Caribbean again. I’m very, very confident that those persons who are joining me in this room this evening possess the requisite skills to ensure that we move our young people in this country forward.
“We are tasked with dealing with youth, sports and community development and to that end we believe we have proactive programmes that will do exactly that. The mantra in this ministry was to facilitate the needs and aspirations of the young people of this country and I believe we still embrace that as one of the planks for what we do going forward,” said the Member of Parliament for St John.
In the “snapshot” he provided during his overview of the ministry he spoke about some of the programmes that fell under the aegis of the ministry such as the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme, Youth Achieving Results, Barbados Youth Advance Corps, Building Blocks, and how they would be used to “propel” the youth in a positive direction. (GBM)
