On Monday, September 20th, the Department of Youth and Culture, in collaboration with the National Youth Ambassador Corp, held a Press Conference to outline activities for the 7th Annual National Youth Week to be held from September 26th through October 2nd. The theme of this year’s Youth Week is: “Economic Diversification and Food Security: Optimising Anguilla’s Green and Blue Economy”.
Speaking at the Press Conference, the Director of Youth and Culture, Ms. Avon Carty, gave an overview of the week’s events: “The week begins with our annual National Youth Conference which will be held on Days 1 and 2, Monday and Tuesday. This is our 14th Youth Conference. Due to Hurricane Irma, there was no such event in 2018.
“On Wednesday, September 29th, we will have our Open Mic Forum, at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, where we will be engaging our 6th Form students. Thursday, September 30th, is Caribbean Youth Day with the theme “Building Resilience; Covid-19”. This would be a challenge which will be coordinated by one of our Youth agencies.
“On Friday, October 1st, we will conduct the first session of the third Anguilla Youth Parliament. Then on Saturday, October 2nd, we will observe the official closing of Youth Week 2021 as we worship with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mount Fortune, East End. In the afternoon, we will stage our first Drill Competition in honour of one of our outstanding youth influencers, the late Mr. Vernon George Fleming.”
Keeping in line with the theme of Youth Week, is the notion of “green”. In this regard, Ms. Alvanique Frank, the Secretary of the Anguilla National Youth Council, was asked to give a description of the area “Plant-Up” for which she is in charge:
“Earlier this year,” she said, “the Anguilla Youth Council set up a tree-planting initiative in which we intend to plant a thousand trees in Anguilla. We found this activity would be a great feature during the lockdown period in order to keep persons engaged. Our theme goes, ‘Economic Diversification and Food Security: Optimising Anguilla’s Green and Blue Economy’…, and we must acknowledge that the Caribbean is in grave danger due to climate change. Planting trees is an effort to protect our environment, and it helps to mitigate climate change.”
She explained: “Trees are a vital part of our ecosystem. They help to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and they are essential to creating resilience. Tree planting would not only add to the beauty of our country, but the trees would serve to protect against rising temperatures and pollution…”
She concluded: “On Saturday, September 25th, at 6:00 am, we will be planting 100 trees around the island. We are happy to partner with the Anguilla National Trust, in this endeavour, which has donated sixty lignum vitae trees. We want to encourage the wider community to plant trees — whether it be fruit trees or flowers… Let us continue to reduce climate change, one tree at a time.”
Representing the National Youth Ambassador Corps was Ms. Tiffany Moore, who boosted the promotion of a special short video series that will be streamed on Sunday, September 26th:
“In view of the launch for our National Youth Week, the National Youth Ambassador Corps, in collaboration with What We Do in Anguilla, will be debuting our first episode entitled “Shaping the Blue and Green Economy”. As members of the global community, we are all working to move past this Covid pandemic. In our effort to do so, there is a need for us to focus on the large influence that our human activities have on our sea (our blue) and our land (our green), thus affecting our blue and green economy.
“This video episode aims to explore what all this means in the Anguilla context. It also seeks to open up our thought processes about what persons here on our island can do in order to reshape the quality of our land and sea here in Anguilla, as well as in the region.”
Mrs. Hyacinth Bradley is the Community Services Planner in the Ministry of Social Development. She gave a synopsis of the upcoming two-day Youth Conference, which is the initial activity to be held on Monday and Tuesday, September 27th and 28th:
“Since 2007 we have been featuring our Annual Youth Conference. This year, we will be conducting our 14th. This Youth Conference is dedicated to ensuring that the young people of Anguilla have the opportunity to be exposed to informed national decision-making. The Conference allows them to have access to information through research and documentation. And it provides an opportunity where they will be informed about the policies and programmes that we are dealing with as an island — and the region at large.
“For the last two years we have been working on a new National Youth Policy for Anguilla. We have one, currently, but we thought we would do a comprehensive research which featured a survey of over 900 young people ages 13 through 35 on Anguilla. These youth had the opportunity of informing us concerning the key issues that affect them. Based upon that information, a formal new policy, which will run from 2021 to 2031, will be launched on Monday, September 27th.”
Mrs. Bradley noted that the first subject to be addressed in the new policy will be Economic Development and Youth Involvement. She noted that this subject has been designed as the theme for this year’s 14th Annual National Youth Conference — and that the launching of the new policy will be conducted under the guidance of International Youth Development Specialist and Youth Consultant, Dr. Henry W. Charles of St. Lucia.
“Following the formal launch of the new National Youth Policy,” Mrs. Bradley said, “on that same day we will be holding a panel discussion. The panel will focus on the Caribbean as regards ecotourism relative to our green and blue economy. It will focus on the opportunities that exist for young persons to be informed, to explore potentials and to invest. We are making plans to have, as part of our panel, the Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Dr. Didacus Jules of St. Lucia.”
Young people are encouraged to attend the various activities scheduled for them during National Youth Week. For more information, contact the Director of the Department of Youth and Culture, Ms. Avon Carty, by email at Avon.carty@gov.ai or via telephone (264) 498-3792.
