UNICEF expands youth for future
The Youth for the Future Initiative has gained a reputation as a programme designed to address the particular problems of Belize City. But today Y.F.F. projected a wider presence as nine youth councils were funded nationwide. Jacqueline Woods reports.
Diane Hall, Ag. Director, Youth Development Department
“We asked UNICEF if they could assist us with the institutional strengthening of the Youth Council. Some of them, the makeup of the council is the youth groups become members of the District Council and some of them have basically five or six youth groups. And we do believe that there are a number of youth groups in the district that should be, and could be, a part of the council. So they will use the funds so that they could go out into the village and remote rural areas to recruit new members for the council. They will also do some training in the district or in the towns to strengthen the leadership of the council.”
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
But as fifteen youth leaders received a total of fifteen thousand dollars to improve their respective councils, a number of youths stood outside and wasted no time in speaking to the media about a termination letter they received from the Youth For The Future Executive Director, Nuri Muhammad.
Delwin Gordon, Former Worker, Belize Youth Building Unit
“Today, we happen to come and collect we weekly salary and we find a letter di wait fi we seh we fired and we nevah really get hired from up there, we just get transferred from Housing to here. Soh now this letter come and my money noh correct weh they di try give me.”
Jacqueline Woods
“What work did you do for Youth for the Future?”
Delwin Gordon
“We come under the thing, we help construction, we build. We build this build, plaster it, paint it and the house through Ghost Town, a lot a next lee house weh deh bout, we build under Youth for the Future. Soh this dah the thanks weh Nuri the give we now? He want the youths turn against him? Fi see this being Youth for the Future Department, how they wah pay youths one-twenty-five.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Now you’re saying that you guys were transferred from the Ministry of Housing. What would you want to see happen now that your services have been terminated from Youth for the Future?
Delwin Gordon
“We would want they shift we back to Housing, cause we never get hired by he.”
Nuri Muhammad, Executive Director, Youth For the Future
“We have a group of young men that have come from the Housing Department who were working with us. And we have been holding on to them, giving them employment, but not out of the budget that we had. The group started working with Housing, some of them have been working with Housing, as much as four years, but Housing signalled that they wanted to phase them out. Since we wanted to utilise some youths in completing this building and a project we had in Mayflower, we said we would hold on to them as long as we had this arrangement with Housing. This arrangement with Housing has come to an end, and Youth for the Future does not have a special amount of funds to give to them. The only funds that we have to give to them is the funds we have from the arrangement we had with Housing.”
Jacqueline Woods
“So what advice is Youth for the Future giving to these youths who are not out of a job?”
Nuri Muhammad
“What we have said to them, first of all, we will take the responsibility for paying you your notice pay, your last week of pay from working with us. We will make an appeal to the Ministry of Finance that all that is due to you in terms of your vacation pay etcetera, etcetera, will be given to you.”
Muhammad says a total of twelve youths received letters. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
Muhammad says they have also advised the young men to apply to the Youth For the Future job creation unit to see how they may be included in any upcoming projects.
