REMARKS

Denise E Antonio, UNDP Resident Representative

Institute of Caribbean Studies’ Youth-led Discussions for Enabling Caribbean Recovery and Resilience

Wednesday, 12 August 2020

Salutations

• Dr Claire Nelson, Founder of the Institute of Caribbean Studies
• Ms. Valerie Lorena, Executive Director of the Young Americas Business Trust (Sect of Organization of American States)                               
• Ms. Kimberly Gittens, Caribbean Development Bank
• Other distinguished delegates

I am delighted to join young people across the region for International Youth Day 2020 at a time of extraordinary challenge and opportunity as we navigate this COVID 19 pandemic.

UNDP, in its recent report described the COVID crisis, as “the greatest test the world has faced since the formation of the United Nations”, while the IMF anticipates “the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression”.

By no means am I attempting to alarm you. I am actually celebrating and heralding your potential to skillfully shoulder the extraordinary responsibilities that await your generation. As present and future leaders, your ideas are needed to help accelerate the world’s recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 in the medium to long term. Your collective strength, creativity and innovation is being called on to slay this ‘goliath’ of our times, while exploring opportunities to triumph amid this challenge.

What our generation need to do is offer the support, training and mentorship to translate your ideas into reality. You must learn how to become the main drivers in this recovery process. There is no time to waste.

At the UNDP Multi Country Office in Jamaica, we provided the support and guidance of a steering committee comprised of about 8 youth groups who worked on a youth-led COVID response and planned a webinar series ‘Ready Reset Recharge’ that took place from 6 - 10 July. With these young people in the driving seat of the planning process, the five-day conference explored youth-led solutions to the COVID crisis, focusing on upskilling and reskilling for the future; leveraging networks for future pandemic, climate change shocks and crises; and bridging the digital divide to reduce inequalities in education.

The draft Resolution and the pitches generated in UNDP’s inaugural Development Challenge competition will provide the foundation for a robust advocacy programme led by youth. Ensuing advocacy and communication programmes, will hear young people issue their call for action on issues such as internet access for all students and policies that promote youth-driven innovation, partnerships and opportunities. We will also learn, as you have witnessed here today, about Covinnected, an innovative standardized solution for ensuring no student is left behind in the digital age – pitched by the winning team in UNDP’s inaugural Development Challenge competition. UNDP is happy to continue working with the young people on these important issues in the coming weeks and months.

Young people are also engaging and becoming creative and innovative partners in combating Climate Change, another 21^st century global challenge.   Under the auspice of UNDP’s Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (SGP), we are working with young people on five projects valued at 389,500 USD.  These are not just projects targeting youth, they are led by young people and of this we are proud.  

For example, under this UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme, the Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica (YCWJ) was awarded a grant of USD 71 050 to help mitigate deforestation and enhance livelihoods through climate smart agriculture technology in Springvale, a rural community in Jamaica.

In another instance, the Sawyers Local Forest Management Committee Benevolent Society, a group constituted of young people has been awarded a grant of USD 118 000 to work on preserving natural resources while generating sustainable livelihoods in the Sawyers Community.

As of 2018, 450 SGP projects worldwide were completed with youth participation or leadership; more than 300 youth organizations participated in SGP projects, and majority of SGP countries, including Jamaica, have dedicated a youth focal point in their national steering committees.  

At the global level, in 2016, UNDP launched its Youth Global Programme for Sustainable Development and Peace, “Youth-GPS”: a 5-year global programmatic offer designed to sharpen the organisation’s response to the challenges young people face worldwide by supporting young people as agents of change in the 2030 Agenda at the global, regional and country level.

Young people of this region must also take their place in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will require strong partnerships between young people and other stakeholders at all levels of decision-making to advance more than one third of the SDG targets which explicitly and/or implicitly reference young people, with a focus on empowerment, participation and well-being. How young people are supported and engaged will significantly determine the prospects of sustainable development and peace in the coming years.

Reflecting on the theme of International Youth Day 2020 “Youth Engagement for Global Action” we call on young people to take your place as decision makers as we also call on decision makers to make space at the table for young people. And if the table is not available, young people, I urge you to create your own and invite others to partner and collaborate with you. We need your innovation, creativity, vision, and energy to power us through the challenges of our time and to transcend a world where the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change are not acceptable.

We look forward to working with you on these important issues.