We must reintroduce a National Youth Policy that is aimed at ensuring that the youth play their role, alongside adults, in the development of the Turks & Caicos Islands. This policy should promote youth participation in community and civic affairs and ensure that youth programmes are youth centred. This policy should propose guidelines and strategies that can be used to facilitate participation of the youth in national development. Although the number of organizations dealing with young people has increased over the years, the lack of a comprehensive policy makes it difficult for these groups to effectively address these challenges.
Through this new National Youth Policy, we will assist in fostering a culture of positive youth development and participation in decision-making around activities that affect the lives of youth, and increase the capacity of service providers to provide accessible, relevant and high quality services for young people and their families.
This new National Youth Policy will facilitate a multi-sectoral approach to youth development, including the strengthening of mechanisms for coordination and collaboration among youth-serving organizations. The multi-sectoral approach requires services that are coordinated, meeting to the degree possible, the complete needs of each young person. The response must be tailored to different subgroups of the youth population, including young men and young women and youth of different ages. This approach will facilitate and promote active youth and stakeholder participation throughout the process.
This Policy will accept that a coordinated and collaborative response represents the most suitable strategic response in order to effect positive youth development, while fostering the active participation of TCI’s youth in the process. Youth development is a multidimensional process through which young persons are assisted to meet their basic developmental needs, and to build individual assets and competencies, which will assist them to function and succeed as adults. It will embrace the process of human growth and development, as well as, activities, programmes and services provided to assist young people in the overall development process, and in making the transition to adulthood easier and more productive.
This new National Youth Policy, while targeting youth, recognizes the need to utilize the life-cycle approach to strengthen the development of TCI’s human capital. It accepts that there is a continuum between the stages of physical, emotional and psychological development of human beings. These changes are most pronounced in the early stages of life. Hence, positive and productive adulthood is the result of a process of development that passes through three major (dependent) phases; childhood, adolescence and youth. Positive youth development focuses on addressing the broad developmental needs of the young person, needs which are linked to cognitive, social, physical, emotional, and moral growth. In contrast, deficit-based models tend to focus solely on youth problems.
It is generally agreed that every young person needs a core of 5 basic things to survive and develop. These are: “At least one adult who is irrationally committed to his or her well-being (parent, mentor, etc) A safe place for sleeping, playing, learning, working and being, A healthy start and a healthy lifestyle, The chance to contribute and serve others, Opportunities to learn values and marketable skills for adulthood. No one organization can successfully guarantee continued access to these five basic ingredients for all TCI’s youth. It is therefore important that this Policy adopts and endorses a multi-sectoral approach to youth development in The Turks & Caicos.
Consultations would be held country wide and include youth, government representatives and members of the public in general. The priority areas of the new Policy should take into consideration the numerous issues affecting our youth today. A list of these issues would be identified through research. We must also seek the critical input of our young people, who will substantiate that unemployment and education-related issues (including treatment by teachers and relevance of what is taught) as the most critical issues affecting them. Other commonly cited issues to me from a number of young people include crime and violence, gender disparities, lack of national unity, the illicit drug trade and drug use, teenage parenting, ignorance of culture, and the need for activities and opportunities for youth.
This new National Youth Policy will be our country’s blueprint for our young people and we must ensure that it is much more than a document that we can say for the record that we have a policy.
Hon Sean R. Astwood
Rep. Five Cays
PDM Deputy Leader
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