Government has proposed the development and implementation of a National Youth Empowerment Action Plan (NYEAP) that supports focused and strategic youth development.
This is according to Minister within the Ministry of Education Nicolette Henry who highlighted that the underlying themes of the new policy are youth empowerment, inclusivity and sustainability. She made the comments at the celebrations of International Youth Day on Wednesday.
A statement from the ministry said that the National Youth Policy 2015 – 2020 is the first step in government’s strategic efforts to articulate its plans to enhance the lives of Guyanese youths and to organise the work of community, national, regional and international bodies seeking to support the advancement of youth identity, livelihood, employment, participation, representation, and well-being in Guyana.
The statement said that some of the priorities contained in the youth policy, are youth identity and empowerment, youth employment and entrepreneurship, education and market-driven skills development, youth leadership, participation and representation and youth safety and well-being.
In her remarks, UN Resident Coordinator Khadija Musa noted that the potential of youth in Guyana, like the rest of the world, has not been fully reached because of challenges such as education and unemployment among others. In this regard, the policies aimed at positively impacting the lives of youth should be reviewed.
The statement said that Musa explained that while youth development is challenging, there are more instances where youths are engaged by governments, public and private sectors, civil agencies and non-governmental organizations.
With regards to Guyana’s National Youth Policy, Musa stated that time must not be lost on its operationalisation. The UN stands ready to give support, she added.
The youth expo was held under the theme ‘Come Let’s Celebrate Being a Youth.’
The objectives of the event were to promote healthier lifestyle choices among youth, bring together youths from different spheres of Guyana in order to educate them on the various youth organisations and job opportunities, and raise awareness on issues that affect youth such as suicide, inter-partner violence, teenage pregnancy, and drug and alcohol abuse, the statement said.
The theme for this year’s observances was “Youth Civic Engagement” and Henry said that the theme of the observance “provides an opportunity for attention to be focused on an issue that affects, and continues to occupy the minds of a large segment of youth populations globally.”
