The Ministry of Youth has a number of initiatives in train to empower the youth and assist the unemployed of this country.
Minister with responsibility for Youth, Stephen Lashley, made this announcement while delivering remarks at the launch of the National Youth Forum (NYF) at the Wildey Gymnasium, last Sunday evening.
While admitting that Government was constrained by the difficult economic times, Mr. Lashley noted that the state was aware that some unemployed youth were becoming frustrated.??
"One such initiative to be launched shortly will be an island-wide intervention programme targeting some 1000 unemployed young people, so that they become registered in various programmes offered by the Ministry of Youth, Family and Sports," he revealed.
He also pointed to the NYF as a potential avenue for the unemployed to find alternative means of employment.?? "Let us create a focus on entrepreneurship so that our young men and women can be off the blocks and not at home during the day, but involved in really purposeful activity," he said.
Mr. Lashley also outlined plans to "decentralise" the Barbados Youth Service to transform it into a National Youth Service "whereby all young people will be required to be involved in specified areas of national life."
In the area of sports, the Minister also revealed that the National Sports Council would soon become more focused on community sports, with programmes designed, particularly for the youth.?? He stated that the first initiative, a national road tennis competition, would be launched shortly. lbayley@barbados.gov.bb