I am happy to be a part of such a timely and dynamic youth-focused workshop and I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to be a presenter.”

Those were words of CARICOM Youth Ambassador to Barbados and Vice Dean of Regional Initiatives, Ms. Sade Jemmot, regarding a workshop on ‘Evidence-based Policies on Youth Development in the Caribbean’ hosted 2-4 June, 2015 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Ms. Jemmot said she was genuinely excited about the workshop and was looking forward to capitalising on the knowledge gained and relationships fostered in the context of the workshop to develop strategic partnerships and synergies for the CYA Corps.

In this connection, I have already signalled my intention to negotiate and settle an MOU between the CYA Corps and the Caribbean Regional Youth Council in the very near future,” she said.

Effective youth participation is about creating opportunities for young people to be involved in influencing, shaping, designing and contributing to policy and the development of services and programmes. This was both the core objective and outcome of the workshop which was hosted through the collaborative efforts of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Commonwealth Secretariat and other parties.

Serving as a forum for international exchange of experiences and knowledge on youth policies, mainstreaming youth in sectorial policies and applying youth development indicators, experts, youth leaders and facilitators made substantive inputs to generate workshop outcome documents and capacity-building that would be deployed throughout the Region in the formulation, review, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of youth-related policies.

The Barbados CYA presented on Youth Participation Mechanisms, along with youth policy expert Mr. Henry Charles, UN focal point on youth Ms. Nicola Shepherd and fellow youth leaders Ms. Famala Jacobs of the Caribbean Regional Youth Council, and Ms. Carmeta Lemus of Belize’s Purple Movement.