‘Youth Voice’ being considered as revised national policy is crafted

Oct 02, 2013 News

A revised national youth policy is currently in the making even as moves are made to recognise and take into consideration the views of young persons in order to better cater to their needs.
According to Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Alfred King, moves towards redesigning the national youth policy were premised on the fact that the existing one is rather dated and does not necessarily meet the needs of young people today. He intimated that in some cases some sections of the policy are not quite relevant. “We recognise the importance of redesigning, and of course, considering the ‘youth voice’, to ensure that we remain relevant as it relates to discharging our mandate and responsibility.”
King, who was at the time speaking at a recent national youth forum spearheaded by the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, noted that such a collaborative move could be deemed crucial in plotting the way forward in terms of formulating the national youth policy.
“We consider our involvement in health as a key stakeholder, because we rather suspect that the outcome here would of course influence what we design, what we consider, and what we include in our policy as it relates to health.”
Elaborating on the Ministry’s work as it relates to youth and youth development, the Permanent Secretary explained that the focus is mainly on young boys and girls, between the ages of 14 and 25. However, he noted that the concept of youth could vary from agency to agency.
For instance, he explained that the United Nations’ policy considers persons as being young even up to the age of 30, while in some other cases the status could relate to persons as old as 35.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Alfred King

“I am not so sure that the age thing should really define youth, but that debate is ongoing,” said King who disclosed that “we believe from the Ministry’s perspective that our definition, while it has a boundary by age limit, is more based on the characteristics and traits that you will find in young people.”
King said the Ministry’s mission is to “take the confused, not so certain, adventurous young person who may not be so stable and transition that person into young adulthood, where he/she can make a meaningful impact and be productive.”
The latter objective, he said, is the Ministry’s major concern, thus, in defining the new national policy, efforts must be made to cater to growth participation and active engagement in national pursuits for young people.
King disclosed that the Ministry’s top priority is compatible with concepts embraced by the health sector which speaks to education as the fundamental factor to foster growth, development and impact of young people on any community.
And given the population of youth in any society, which according to him translates to close to two-thirds sometimes, “you can imagine that if you have an uneducated population what you would be heading to in terms of the next generation and the next generation’s keepers.”
He asserted that if the youthful two-thirds of the population are well educated then it can be projected that life is going to be a little bit better because of informed choices. This, according to him, will inevitably lend to risk reduction, good health outcomes, good citizenship, generally, and people who would be most productive and who will be able to better transition going through those stages.”