Summit Chairman Calls on Governments to Address Youth Employment
Tijani Christian
Belize since 2011 has had a national youth policy in place, but many countries are yet to ratify a strategy to empower the youth. However, Christian says that one of the biggest challenges facing Belize and the region is employment for youths. And that’s where the government comes in.
Tijani Christian, Chair, 4th Caribbean Youth Leaders Summit
“What we must recognize in the development process is that the government or any government cannot provide jobs for all people. What the government’s job should always be is that it must create an enabling environment that can have prosperous flow in the sense that the environment must allow for government can create jobs, private sector can create jobs and any other entity can come in a create jobs so that young people can have the opportunity to be empowered and seek employment. Not only that, but also have young people create their own jobs, because the truth is that any government cannot find job solution for everybody because it is just impossible. But they must create the legislative framework for growth and that is key when they look at any form of economic development. Laws and policies have to match it. So employment is definitely a challenge for us as it relates to young people. if you look across the region, the level of unemployment across the region is quite high—not as high as some countries, but it is something that we really need to manage. But again, we are dealing in a time where most of our countries in the Caribbean are either in the developing stage or under development stage, really leading to the characterization of development.”
