CARIBBEAN YOUTH EXPLOSION 2000 - FAST-TRACKING YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

One hundred and ten (110) Caribbean youth representing 22 countries will meet in Grenada, 17-23 July, 2000, to review the status of implementation of decisions and recommendations pertaining to the empowerment and development of Caribbean youth which have arisen out of conferences and workshops held over the past five years.

The occasion will be Caribbean Youth Explosion 2000, scheduled to take place at St. Georges University in Grenada, and which will facilitate analysis and review of the challenges, successes and impediments to the implementation of youth development initiatives as experienced by regional and international organisations, governments, Departments of Youth, youth organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The Youth Explosion will also facilitate the identification of ways in which young people as individuals and in groups can contribute to their own well being and development objectives by becoming youth advocates and actors at the community, national, regional and international levels.

The focus of the Youth Explosion will be identifying youth-led mechanisms and strategies for speeding-up the implementation of decisions on children's rights, HIV/AIDS; regionalism, integration and civil society; and governance and democracy. The programme includes skills building sessions in areas such as assertiveness training, community mobilisation, conflict resolution and media relations. It also provides opportunities for youth to interact with residents of selected communities.

The deliberations will climax in a regional parliamentary debate modeled after the CARICOM Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP). The Resolutions and conclusions of the Parliament will be forwarded to the Region's decision-making machinery, namely the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), which is responsible for the promotion of human and social development; and the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The Youth Explosion is sponsored by an inter-agency group comprising CARICOM and the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) and supported by UNICEF, UNESCO, UNAIDS, OAS, ST. George's University and BWIA.