For the past two decades UNFPA offices world-wide have observed World Population Day on July 11, by employing creative means to raise awareness of important population and development issues. The Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean celebrated the day under the theme “Investing in Young People. A major objective of the day was to enhance appreciation of key issues pertaining to young people and support sub-regional and national efforts to advance youth resilience and development.
The UNFPA office in Belize in association with the UNFPA Youth Advisory Group and several government ministries held an intergenerational dialogue.This fostered meaningful conversations between the young people and ministers of government, policy makers and service providers. The dialogue addressed issues concerning young people with a view to ensuring that their unique needs are placed on the national and international agenda, particularly the post 2015 developmental agenda, Small Island Development States (SIDS) among others. The discussion was moderated by young people. The Hon. Herman Longsworth, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports led an impressive list of government officials which included , Hon. Mark King, Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Development, Social Transformation and Poverty Alleviation; Mr. Bernard Q. Pitts Jr., Deputy Mayor Belize City and, representatives from key government ministries and civil society including youth organizations.
It was also a collaborative effort in Barbados where UNFPA in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and UNDP Barbados among other partners facilitated a dialogue on issues affecting adolescents and young people. The feature address was delivered by the Director of Youth, Mr. Cleviston Hunte, with additional remarks presented by representatives including the UN Resident Coordinator a.i. Dr. J.R. Deep Ford, and Ms. Cherisse Francis, president of the Barbados Youth Development Council (BYDC). The discussions highlighted existing measures and programmes that address the needs of adolescents and youth at the national level in areas including education and employment, sexual and reproductive health education, and addressing gender-based violence in adolescent and youth populations. Additionally, young people generated a list of recommended actions that should be taken at the national level to influence the Post 2015 and SIDS development agenda.
In Jamaica, UNFPA in association with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ); the Ministry of Youth; Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation and the National Family Planning Board collaborated to host the day’s event which was focused on using technology to drive human capital development in the large youth population. The Hon. Julian Robinson, Minister of State, Ministry of Science, Technology, and Energy & Mining delivered the Keynote address at the Symposium. He highlighted opportunities presented by the advances in technology and liberalization of the telecommunications industry for young people’s entrepreneurship, growth and development. A chain of panel discussions focusing on areas such as entrepreneurship, youth leadership, training and education opportunities, health, agriculture and information and communication technologies ensured the full engagement of the large audience of young people who turned out for the event. The day also featured booth displays highlighting information and communication materials, services, and other resources relevant to youth development. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Beyond 2014 National Report, was also launched at the World Population Day event.
Meanwhile, the UNFPA branch office in Trinidad and Tobago in association with the Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development, and The Ministry of Gender Youth and Child Development hosted a panel discussion aimed at identifying actions to be taken to ensure that young people’s needs are positioned on the national and international agendas, The feature address was given by Senator, The Honourable Raziah Ahmed, Minister of State, Ministry of Gender Youth and Child Development. T he findings of t he country’s Population Situation Analysis relevant to young people were presented.
Guyana Branch office commemorated World Population day with a Stakeholders Forum organized in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports. Representatives from government, civil society including faith based, private sector and youth organizations along with United Nations Agencies and other development partners were in attendance. They used the opportunity to examine the main issues affecting young people including poor parenting support, lack of access to sexuality education, sexual & reproductive health information and services, and adolescent pregnancy. Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony was the keynote speaker at the event.
IN Suriname, UNFPA launched “Wegwijzer”, which is a youth guide used to promote life skills among young people. High level officials and youth participated in interactive sessions where youth voiced their issues and needs.. This activity supported advocacy efforts to create an enabling environment for youth friendly policies and programmes to ensure a safe passage from adolescence into adulthood.
UNFPA has complied fact sheets highlighting in brief, the situation of young people in six Caribbean countries: Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. There were also several media outreach activities around the day. These included radio and television interviews, print and electronic news coverage including community cable, live radio coverage, live streaming, publishing of the Executive Director’s Statement in the press and on digital platforms.
Activities across the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean sought to raise awareness about the specific needs of young people, to identify strategies to address these unique needs as well as opportunities for youth resilience and to advance the proposal for inclusion of a youth goal in the post 2015 Development Agendas .
