The inaugural “I Am… Conference”, being held from today until November15, has been hailed as the start of celebrations to bring awareness to issues facing the island’s youth as well as their several achievements.
Acting Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Davidson Ishmael, emphasised this earlier today while addressing scores of students and other young persons gathered at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael, for its opening ceremony.
Mr. Ishmael, who noted the forum was designed to assist young people affirm and reaffirm their identity and purpose, said it also sought to provide them with avenues and opportunities to be energised, engaged, empowered and to envision a new chapter in their lives.
He stressed the objectives were fitting and critical given the forum was occurring within a year designated as the Commonwealth Year of the Youth.
The three-day conference is in keeping with a youth-centred approach and focuses on key areas of interests to young people. These include health and wellness, employment and entrepreneurship, finance, investment and wealth management, housing, arts, sports and the environment.
The mandate for 2023 to be designated the Year of the Youth came from Commonwealth Heads of Government who met in Kigali, Rwanda, in June 2022. At that meeting, the Heads declared that 2023 would focus on empowering young people, with Governments and relevant stakeholders speeding up progress on youth focused issues.
Elaborating, Mr. Ishmael said: “The rationale for the designation for the Year of the Youth was that some 60 per cent of the 2.5 billion people that make up the Commonwealth are under the age of 30 and this youth bulge demonstrates why the Heads of Government would have prioritised youth-focused, youth-led projects and activities during the year.”