Caribbean Youth Leaders Meet in Belize
Tijani Christian
Approximately one hundred delegates, all youths from twenty countries across the region, including Costa Rica and Namibia, have converged in Belize for the fourth annual Caribbean Youth Leaders Summit. The three-day conference, celebrated under the theme: Agenda 2030 – from Rhetoric to Action, is being hosted at the Radisson in Belize City. The summit is looking at preparing youth leaders, and building their capacity in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of the region for the next fifteen years. According to Summit Chair, Tijani Christian, youth leaders assume similar responsibilities as politicians because they represent constituents.
Tijani Christian, Chair, 4th Caribbean Youth Leaders Summit
“The reality is that they both have constituents; they both are voted in—as it relates to youth council—they both are accountable. So what happens is that the change kicks in when you recognize that there is a level of responsibility on you as the youth leader for your constituents, which are the young people. So you are now crucial to ensuring that their voices are not just heard, but they are registered in the development dialogue. There must be an inter-governmental, multisectoral dialogue between parties, between states, between young people to ensure that whatever plans were set out, whatever conventions or commitments were really put in place that they are being accounted for cause nothing must infringe on the rights of a young person. Young people are looking at how we can build the capacity of our youth leaders to implement those goals. So not saying we want government to also help, but we are saying what we are going to contribute which is essential in the development conversation. How can all actors play part to ensure implementation and that is what the youth leaders here that are being trained are doing.”
