Government, in an effort to fulfill its mandate to empower youth and communities, will be improving the infrastructure at community centres and pavilions.
This assurance was given by Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Dwight Sutherland, during a tour of some of the Community Development Department’s community centres and National Sport Council’s pavilions.
He stated: “It is part of our mandate to inspect the facilities to make sure that there are adequate for community empowerment.”
The Minister, along with officers in the ministry, assessed the infrastructure, and discussed how to make the facilities ‘fit for purpose’.
“What we are focusing on right now is trying to push new frontiers because COVID-19 and it challenges have changed the way people are working and the type of work that persons will engage in moving forward.
“And there are new avenues like renewable energy, seafaring, biotechnology and several other areas that we are trying to equip our community centres to give the 60,000 odd young people in this country an opportunity to learn a skill and become global citizens,” Minister Sutherland explained.
As part of the visits, ministry officials checked to make sure that the facilities were adequately resourced, whether through equipment or upkeep of grounds, such as fields, hard courts, play parks, and also to ensure that they could accommodate training and other activities.