CDB Launches Youth for Innovation & Resilience Program for Inclusive and Equitable Development
THE Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) launched its 2023 young for Innovation and Resilience Programme on June 13, with the goal of promoting inclusive and equitable regional development via young empowerment and involvement. The event took place at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.
The programme, which ran from June 13 to 16, included a Youth FIRE Forum, a one-day event for young people aged 15 to 35, the inaugural meeting of the Bank’s Future Leaders Network (FLN), where 17 Network members and two advisers participated in two days of personal and professional development and capacity building, and a Youth FIRE Expo, which showcased the work of young innovators and entrepreneurs from across Saint Lucia at Constitution Park in Castries yesterday.
The Youth FIRE Programme is a key component of the CDB’s strategy to reach out to youth, promote strategic career guidance and life skills training, and obtain feedback from young people on its programs and policy for youth development and overall sustainable development.
Speaking at the event, CDB’s Director of Projects, Daniel Best, emphasized the bank’s continued commitment to providing youngsters with seats at the table.
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“While many young people succeed, far too many face uncertainty.” “Across CDB programming and through the work informed by our 2020 Youth Policy and Operational Strategy, we have increased our youth engagement and our focus on ensuring that all investments – in areas such as education and training, citizen security, and agriculture, among others – recognize, utilise, and support the capacity building of young people,” he said.
“In these trying times for us as Small Island Developing States, we must seize control of our future.” We must be brave and enhance or refashion solutions to match the reality of the Caribbean. Our youth have the intelligence and imagination required for this mission. “You remind us that you are not just the future, but the now,” Best added, noting that “we will engage with and be engaged by our young people who are serving as participants, panelists, moderators, presenters, innovators, entrepreneurs, and critically as agents and advocates for positive change” throughout the week.
Kenson Casimir, Minister of Youth Development and Sports, stated that the government had taken the lead in the area in youth innovation and inclusive empowerment for young people, establishing a Youth Economy Agency to address every social issue within Caribbean communities.
“It’s a novel idea that tells young people that we believe in them.” A innovative notion that tells young people that their ideas have the potential to change the environment of Saint Lucia. “With this idea, we have seen over 200 applicants in less than six months of the establishment of this agency, which tells us that young people were ready and waiting, wanting to be productive to their country’s economic development,” Casimir said.
“Programs like this… help to develop and enhance our region’s youth leaders and innovators… Youth can educate, develop, and express themselves on a variety of topics, which promotes holistic development. “I applaud the Caribbean Development Bank for… creating empowering spaces like this to enlighten and educate the youth, and most importantly for investing in the region’s future,” said Yaniqueca Jean-Bart William, Chairperson of the Saint Lucia National Youth Council, at the event.
The CDB’s youth engagement program was rebranded ‘Youth for Innovation and Resilience (Youth FIRE)’ in 2022 to reflect the Bank’s commitment to responding to recommendations from young people regarding branding, content, and methodology.
The 2023 program formally presents the Bank’s FLN – an institutional vehicle for youth involvement and empowerment, as well as to encourage young mainstreaming in Bank operations.