The panel of Ministers along with Advisor to the Prime Minister on Poverty Eradication and the Millennium Development Goals Hamilton Lashley (second from left) at yesterday’s youth consultation.

 

Six Government Ministers were yesterday questioned by several school students on varying issues directly related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Ministers Trevor Prescod, Jerome Walcott, Anthony Wood, Cynthia Forde, Elizabeth Thompson and Lynette Eastmond were participating in the “Yes Minister” session of a MDGs National Youth Consultation at the Manor Lodge Complex.

The event was organised by the Office of the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Poverty Eradication and the MDGs and UNICEF. Advisor, Hamilton Lashley explained that “the exercise was basically to engage Ministers in dialogue with the students, so they could go away with a better understanding of what our youth are thinking and how they envision Barbados would attain the MDGs”.

Their questions encompassed all eight MDGs, with the students particularly trying to determine how Barbados was progressing in terms of: promoting healthy lives; providing quality education; combating HIV/AIDS; and protecting children from harm, abuse, exploitation and violence.

The panel of Ministers commended Mr. Lashley and UNICEF for holding the forum which they descried as “timely and adequate.”

The eight MDGs are: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women;reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.

The target date for these goals to be achieved is 2015.

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