Ms. Keria Hughes, Youth Caucus Representative for Anguilla, has recently returned from the Commonwealth Youth Programme - Caribbean Centre’s Regional Advisory Board meeting. The meeting was held from the 18th-24th August, 2007 in Port-of- Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Regional Youth Caucus Representatives (Keria Hughes 2nd from left)

The Regional Advisory Board (RAB) is a biennial conference, comprising senior government officials and a young person or youth caucus representative from each Commonwealth Caribbean country. Mr. Lenox Proctor, Director of Youth and Culture, in the Ministry of Social Development – Department of Youth and Culture was also in attendance. Decisions made at RAB are filtered to other governance levels of the Commonwealth such as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting. This places the RAB in a position to influence the mandates of the Heads of Government and Youth Ministers which are ultimately translated into programmes for implementation.

In a summary report produced by the regional youth caucus representatives for discussion at the RAB, the major issues facing young people in the region were identified as: family structure and cultural identity; youth representation and marginalization; unemployment and entrepeneurship; crime and violence and lifestyle diseases. The caucus also presented to the Regional Advisory Board a summary of recommendations to be implemented to address these issues.

Keria Hughes

Ms. Hughes noted that she intends to follow up the meeting with senior policy makers in the Ministry responsible for youth affairs; the executive board of the National Youth Council and other agencies involved in youth development, to examine ways in which the recommendations of the caucus can be implemented where applicable.

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