Amongst the moving mechanics of regional integration, the role of our young people therein has once again come to the fore. Youth and decision makers from across the region convened at the CARICOM Youth Forum, held alongside the 51st Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in Saint Lucia, all sharing an unmistakable message – the future is here, and young people are ready to help shape it.
Held under the theme Youth Solutions for the Future, the Forum examined issues most pertinent to the contemporary youth condition – youth safety, barriers to regional mobility, access to economic opportunity and the youth identity. Speakers recognized these as issues longstanding impediments to youth development regionally and, as a natural result, meaningful integration of young people into regional integration models.
What distinguished the dialogue was a notable and deliberate shift from consultation to co-creation. Participants were invited to delve beyond the challenges confronting their generation with policy ideas, identifying responsible actors and recommending practical actions that CARICOM can pursue over the next several years. Solutions proffered fostered thought on the structured pathways for graduates of tertiary education institutions to access the CSME, pivoting education from encouraging employment to deployment of skills in addition to coordinated cross-sectoral approaches in providing support to young people.
These young people boldly challenged the Region to reconsider what Caribbean integration means for the next generation. Deputy Male CARICOM Youth Ambassador for Saint Lucia noted that “The Caribbean [the youth] inherit should not be smaller than the Caribbean that was imagined for us. It should be greater. The responsibility of every generation is not merely to preserve what it received. It is to live behind something stronger than it found. That is the standard history demands of us.” A truly integrated Community cannot exist if young people continue to face obstacles to studying, working, innovating and collaborating across Member States. Likewise, regional development cannot be sustained if youth voices are absent from the institutions responsible for shaping policy.
The recommendations emerging from the Forum will be presented to CARICOM Heads of Government through a Youth Dialogue Outcome Statement. Their true value, however, will not be measured by the strength of the document but by the willingness of regional leaders to transform these proposals into action.