“Become better acquainted with your history” – Caricom Chair urges Caribbean youths

In his address to the opening ceremony of the Nestlé Caribbean Youth Summit, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister and current Caricom Chair, Gaston Browne made a call to all Caribbean youths to become better acquainted with their history.
“The first lesson that I wish to share with you is that history matters. I hope that as Caribbean youth, you become better acquainted with your history – both of your island country and the Caribbean Region as a whole,” he expressed.
To this end, the Prime Minister stated that knowledge of one’s history prepares youth for playing a more committed role in the continued development and evolution of the Caribbean civilisation.
This knowledge, he stated, “will equip you with identifying the gaps of our civilisation and assist with a developmental strategy to fill them”.
Further, he highlighted the fact that great efforts were being made by all Caribbean Heads in actively pursuing programmes of youth development to prepare the next generation for leadership, while establishing the youth empowerment architecture to facilitate their participation in Government’s decision-making, ownership, and achievement of their self-development and self-actualisation goals.

“Our vision for our youths is for them to lead fulfilling lives as high achievers, characterised by the values of competence with passion, confidence, and resilience and achieving global competitiveness,” the Prime Minister noted.
He went on to state, “History often teaches us many lessons which we must not forget. It is always necessary, therefore, to examine history in order to examine which mechanisms worked and which attempts did not deliver so that we can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.”
Moreover, he encouraged youths of the Caribbean to acquire a skill or profession. In doing so, he noted that the intellectual competence gained through that acquired skill or profession “will allow you, your country, and our Caribbean civilisation to grow with wealth”.
“There are some developmental gaps that exist in science, technology, engineering, mathematics that we need to address in our civilisation in order to accelerate the advancement of our civilisation of our region. Our respective Caribbean Governments are investing more resources to fill these gaps,” he stated.
He charged the youths to be active and utilise their energy constructively.
“All Caribbean youth must strive to be productive citizens. Providing superior leadership, contributing to all facets of society. They must set goals for higher level of achievement than their ancestors,” he had encouraged the virtual gathering.
The Caribbean Community (Caricom) had become the official partner with Nestlé Anglo Dutch Caribbean on holding the Nestlé Caribbean Youth Summit, a two-day virtual event which occurred on October 5-6.
The theme for the virtual Youth Summit: “Empower Youth to act NOW”, is said to be aligned with Caricom’s mandate to empower the Region’s youth through the creation of programmes that expand youth capacity and competency.
The event was geared toward Caribbean youth between the ages of 16 and 29, exposing them to motivational discussions, presentations, and workshops from experts of various fields.
The Summit focused on key topics driving youth development such as: Employment and Employability, Entrepreneurship, Agripreneurship, Food and Hospitality Development.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2019, has somewhat crippled industries, impacted job opportunities, and forced some sectors to scale down their productivity.
Nestlé Anglo Dutch Caribbean had committed to leveraging its partnerships, resources, and expert networks to positively impact youth across the Caribbean. These efforts were culminated in the Nestlé Caribbean Youth Summit, allowing young persons who were exposed to the event to be motivated, inspired, and armed with the tools to achieve their dreams through their objectives of leaving 10,000 youths impacted, pledging 1000 jobs to youth from 2022-2025, and supporting young entrepreneurs while providing mentorship in various industries and increased networking opportunities for youth.