Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/5263/-1/139/
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Inaugural Conference on Youth and Development Successful
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Almost 150 young persons registered for the National Youth Conference held at the House of Chandeliers on September 27-28. The slogan of the conference and principle idea was “Promoting Youth Involvement in Governance – The Future is Now.” The conference was primarily designed to serve as a mechanism to ensure that a youth perspective is mainstreamed into the development process.
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Participants in discussion groups
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During the opening ceremony, which was heavily attended by representatives of Government such as HE The Governor Mr. Andrew George, The Honourable Deputy Governor Mr. Stanley Reid, Hon. Chief Minister Mr. Osbourne Fleming, Hon. Minister of Social Development Mr. Evans Rogers and Hon. Minster of Infrastructure Mr. Kenneth Harrigan, many presenters spoke about this monumental youth endeavour. Lenox Proctor, Director of Youth and Culture, was the main catalyst behind the event and was assisted throughout the conference by Eduardo Samuel.
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Participants ready to hear a paper
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Although during the opening ceremony there was a power failure, the proceedings continued with speeches from Ms. Sherri-Anne Roberts, President of the Anguilla National Youth Council, Mr. Henry Charles, Regional Director of the Commonwealth Youth Program – Caribbean Centre and the Hon. Evans M. Rogers. The conference was conducted over a two day period in which there were four Plenary Sessions. The theme of session 1 was “Child Protection” and consisted of two paper presentations. Kiesha Gumbs spoke about child protection and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As is every session, after the paper, questions were taken from the floor and then all participants were relegated to their tables to discuss the issues at hand and come up with solutions. Then, randomly, certain group representatives would come to the podium and present their groups’ thoughts and solutions. All of the documents provided by the groups were stored and redacted so that a large report could be presented at the end of the conference.
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Alex Orchard gives a fantastic presentation
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Alex Orchard, representing the Literary and Debating Society gave an extremely charismatic and well prepared paper on Labour and Employment in Anguilla. In Plenary session 2, a presentation was done on Lifestyle Diseases by the Literary and debating Society, and Ms. Farah Mukhida gave a paper on sustainable land use. Session three was comprised of a paper by Ms. Shantell Gumbs which dealt with access to education. Day two began with a review of day one and an exciting interactive session with key policy makers. The Hon. Chief Minister Mr. Osbourne Fleming, Hon Evans Rogers and Permanent Secretary Mr. Rodney Rey comprised a panel that fielded questions from the many participants.
Session four dealt with Crime and Violence and a paper on Juvenile Justice presented by Natasha Carty. After lunch, an interactive session with department heads and Permanent Secretaries was conducted as well as the viewing of a short film entitled Forgotten Voices. All in all, the conference was highly successful and professionally run. It provided the youth of Anguilla a positive forum in which serious issues arose as well as positive outcomes.
-Jason Allen