(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  The Dean of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Youth Ambassador Programme (CYAP) Donna Greene has called on public and private sector agencies and youth-oriented institutions to develop more meaningful partnerships with young people.

Ms. Greene made the challenge on Monday while addressing CYAs, senior government officials and stakeholders at the Induction ceremony for CYAs at the Pom Marine Hotel in Christ Church, Barbados on 21 April 2008.

Ms Greene asserted that it was time for public and private sector agencies to appreciate that there was no conflict of interests between the young and the old in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) but a symbiotic relationship in which each party brings unique experiences, knowledge and skills to the partnership.

The second year female CARICOM Youth Ambassador also challenged her colleagues to fulfill the mandate issued by their peers.

“Ambassadors, it is your role to spread the message at the national and regional level to bring young persons on board as agents for change. It is only through unity that we can deal with the problem of climate change, HIV/AIDS, sustainable socio-economic development and non-communicable diseases in an effort to build the capacity of our region and to empower our people,” Ms. Greene declared.

The Induction ceremony was followed by an Orientation Workshop in which twenty-five CYAs are participating. Of that number, fifteen are new appointees from countries such as Jamaica, Dominica, Belize as well as Montserrat. The appointment of Isnel Pierreval and Gyliane Cadet is historic as it marks the first time in four years that CYAs have been appointed from Haiti.

Dean Greene welcomed the new and returning CYAs to the “family” where what she described as “true Caribbean unity” exists. “[This is] a unity where Bajans, Trinis, Surinamese and all other regional representatives are not distant relatives and close friends due to the docking of a slave ship on various ports, but because of the basic understanding and love for the Region and for each other we remain friends. We are friends not because of a mandate, legislation or geographical location but through the spirit of brotherhood,” Ms. Greene concluded.