“Youth for the Future” plans presented to press
With sixty percent of the Belizean population under the age of thirty-five, the government has begun to plan ahead to deal with all that youthful energy. Today, the “Youth for the Future Initiative”, scheduled to be officially launched later this month, was explained to the press. According to co-ordinator Nuri Muhammad, this is not just another program, but rather a project designed to support several others already running.
Nuri Muhammad, Co-ordinator, Youth For the Future
“Some of these programmes are already in motion. Some are going on the Youth Department, some are going on with the Lion’s, Rotaract, the Belize Better Business Bureau is trying to do something. This initiative is to give support to those areas likewise. It is also to support the ongoing programme with the Youth Department.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Isn’t this a mini version, or can be termed a mini version of the C.Y.D.P., after all, it has many of the trappings that the C.Y.D.P. had in the first instance?”
Nuri Muhammad
“I would say that perhaps because the people see me as a central figure here…”
Ann-Marie Williams
“No, I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about the youth enterprise, there’s a portion for counselling, a bit for job placing an initiative for peace, all that. I remember the gang truce right away.”
Nuri Muhammad
“Yes, and you should in fact think about that because it’s an effort to address that sector of youth, and that sector of youth needs to be engaged in the process. C.Y.D.P. had that sector of youth engaged. This initiative intends to ensure that that sector is engaged. I think the dramatic difference between the two is that this initiative also equally focuses on those youth who are already attached, those youths who are not marginalised, but who are as much in need of structural support, support that will help them move into enterprise development.”
At the official launch of the Youth for the Future Initiative, Belizean basketball star Milton Palacio will be the special guest speaker at the ceremonies slated to take place at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex on May twenty-fourth, 2002.
