This week many young people inAnguillacame together for their Sixth Annual National Conference on Youth and Development at the Teachers’ Resource Centre and the House of Assembly Chambers. The fact that it was a rainy day on Monday, did not stop the young people from meeting to formulate their draft strategies and recommendations to reduce, and hopefully prevent, crime and violence on the island. The proposals were presented to Government policy-makers on Wednesday in theAtlinNoraldoHarriganParliamentaryBuilding. There was no better place at which to do so than where all the laws and regulations for the island are passed.
While youth crime and violence prevention was the basis for the discourse, it is of interest to note that there has been a focus on education and economic and community development. This is understandable in that crime appears to be often linked to failure in the education process – whether at state or personal level – poor economic activity and unemployment, and a lack of community facilities and activities.The National Youth Council does not function in a vacuum, so to speak, but operates under the auspices of the Department of Youth and Culture which, accordingly, hosted the conference.This adds much credence to the mission of the Youth Council and therefore to its strategies and recommendations.
As indicated above, it is six years now that the National Youth Council has been holding annual conferences. It enjoys its own niche and status among other such regional youth groups; has well-established links with the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre and the Caricom Youth Parliament; and one of its members is serving as Anguilla’s Caricom Youth Ambassador and another asAnguilla’s Commonwealth Youth Ambassador. So the National Youth Council has grown into a well-organised, respected and highly-functioning organisation.
The Anguilla Government should be proud of the National Youth Council which is really a federation of various youth organisations and clubs on the island. When it speaks, the Government should listen. In past years, like on this occasion, the Youth Council has made a number of proposals and recommendations to Government aimed at safeguarding the island’s young people from the ills of society, promoting their present and future wellbeing and giving them a voice in the affairs ofAnguilla.
What have we heard from our policy-makers in Government? The answer is a lot of chat and promises, but little or no action. At the moment of the Youth Council’s presentations in the House of Assembly, the Government appears to be all involved, pouring over the draft recommendations, and making all kinds of promissory statements which do not ever seem to materialise. There is a need for Government to be serious about the matters submitted by its young people, and to actually put some of their recommendations into force for the common good of the island.
Nothing destroys the peace and quiet of a community like the wave of crime and gang violence we have been experiencing in recent times. This is not only a concern of the National Youth Council, but of everybody else. The dismal economic situation and the lack of employment, affecting scores of young people, are real matters for worry and complaint. If this situation is directly or indirectly resulting in crime, then it is all the more necessary for us to be troubled.
On the education side, there is a need for Government to work towards providing opportunities for learning in various technical skills in which training programmes can be developed for young people who are more inclined towards this form of education. A constant call is for the Government to pass the long-overdue Education Bill to enable the local TVET Council and the Anguilla Community Collegeto function effectively as far as skills-training is concerned.
While the National Youth Council continues to press the Government to act more decisively on matters regarding youth development, it must also look inwardly to see whether there is something it can do, as an umbrella organisation, to achieve some of the objectives it is proposing. There is no doubt that many of the matters of concern are way beyond the capability of the Youth Council to deal with, but the little that it can do may be of much assistance. The Government must also recognise that it has overall responsibility for leadership and be prepared to lead wherever and whenever possible. It must listen to the voice of its young people, in particular, for on their shoulders rest the present and future burdens of nation-building.
The admonition of the Apostle Paul is clear: “Do not despise the youth.”
