Youth Policy to be Minister’s No. 1 Agenda

After six years of preparation and research, countlessyouth forums conducted throughout the Islands of The Bahamas and interviewswith thousands of young people ages 15 - 35, a formal document of solutionscreated by the Bahamian youth leaders was presented to the Minister of Youth,Sports and Culture, Hon. Dr. Daniel Johnson.

On Saturday, October 27th 2012, The Youth Departmentalong with the National Youth Policy Team hosted the 2012 ‘National YouthPolicy Summit’. The day long event that started at 9:00 a.m. and  provideda platform for youth leaders, workers and professionals to exchange knowledgeand skills, in attempts to find solutions for issues impacting upon youththroughout The Bahamas. The delegates, representing various youthorganizations, including Island representatives and the 2012 National YouthParliamentarians, took part in three (3) plenary sessions which hosted speakerslike, Joseph Gaskin (PhD Candidate/Sociologist)   Mark Humes (CollegeProfessor), Sandena Neely (Former Commonwealth Youth Ambassador), Damara Dillet(Attorney-At-Law) and Erin Ferguson(Media Personality/Talk show Host).Afterward, the delegates broke into six working thematic groups to finalize thesix (6) key strategic themes of the policy.

The themes were all created and developed by young peoplewho started the task some six years ago of researching what issues wereimportant to youth in The Bahamas and how those issues impacted upon them did.The key themes were finalised as:

1)      Identification &Self-Awareness;

2)      Education, Technology &Capacity Building;

3)      Employment, SocialEnterprise & Young Professionals;

4)      Health, SustainableLivelihoods & the Environment;

5)      Youth in Conflict with theLaw, Access to Justice & Safety; and

6)      Inclusion in theDecision-Making Process & Youth Empowerment

The inclusion of this year’s young delegates carried out thehistoric task of finalizing and presenting the document to the Minister ofYouth Sports and Culture with the hopes that this document would go on tobecome The Bahamas’ first National Youth Policy.

During the Summit, delegates were also given theopportunity to put questions to the Minister in a more intimate setting.Crestwill Farrah, a youth delegate from the Island of San Salvador told theMinister that there was a need for “Our young people to understand the importanceof lobbying in The Bahamas. It’s one of the many ways to show the strength ofour voice.”

Minister Johnson stated that he hopes to bring the documentto Cabinet sometime before the Christmas holiday and then onto Parliament forconsideration within the 1st Quarter of 2013. He said, “This NationalYouth Policy will be number one on my agenda to take to Parliament.” Hewent on to state that “The Bahamas has some the brightest young people inthe world and how important it is to establish a properly functioning NationalYouth Council.” He continued, “This Youth Council will be thenational consulting body for issues regarding the young people of this nation.”

Minister Johnson also urged youth delegates to consider thequestion of “Who are we as a group of people, and where are we going?” Hethen encouraged delegates to continue to PUSH the Director of Youth, so thatthe Director continues to PUSH him, to ensure that the document is not put onthe side like previous similar documents. Director of Youth, K Darron Turnquestin leading the closing charge, encouraged youth delegates to take this ideafrom ‘agenda to action’. He stated “As young people we must learn howto do more than just talk. It’s time to start the action.”

The event which was initially intended to cover two-days hadto be reduced into a one day Summit due to Hurricane Sandy and despite theinclement weather, over 100 youth delegates, youth workers and youngprofessionals pressed their to ensure that the final draft of the NationalYouth Policy was presented to the Minister Johnson. Holding the Minister to hisword, the National Youth Policy Team has launched a Facebook page called “PUSH FOR POLICY” Campaign, as a public relation tool to further lobby for thefinal adoption of the draft policy by legislative leaders.

Images by R Wells Photography