Delegates challenged to put focus on marginalised youth
THE 20th meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) convened in Guyana yesterday. Speaking on the occasion, Secretary-General Edwin Carrington warned that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be achieved without investment in human resources and focus on marginalised youth.
“If the investment in human resources is to benefit all, then the marginalised youth is a group that requires special attention. What we want is to enable youths to live the life they want and increase their choices,” he told delegates gathered at the Umana Yana in Kingston, Georgetown.
The theme of the three-day forum is ‘Investing in Human Resources for the Benefit of All’ and in attendance are CARICOM Government Ministers, members of the Diplomatic Corps and other stakeholders.
They are expected to address a packed agenda that includes national and regional tertiary education systems, accreditation and gender issues and education, early childhood education, polices and practices. Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) innovations as drivers of secondary education reform, labour market linkages, teacher education, technology in the education sector, recognition of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and its innovation, education and HIV/AIDS, food security and the Caribbean Action Plan for Social Development and Crime Prevention.
“This COHSOD will address these crucial indicators of human resource development and help us to justify our investments in education, in particular, as a mechanism for increasing the viability of the markets and maintaining a competitive edge,” Mr. Carrington said. 
He emphasised that the listed issues are essential to human resource development, needed expressly in difficult times, for example, the recent global financial crisis in which the requisite human resources helped to bolster economic recovery.
Carrington noted that investment in education results in increased future productivity for the entire Caribbean and moving forward as a united region can happen by connecting the dots, the Caribbean people, through joint response to emergencies and fostering information exchange on regional matters.
He said the outcomes of such gatherings are dependent on the political will, private sector and civil society involvement and the academic community’s contributions.

Increased recognition
Carrington added that there is a need for rigorous cost benefit analysis of programmes and policies for out of school and in school youths, particularly because there should be increased recognition of the downsides of failing to make the investment in human resource development.
Guyana’s Education Minister, Mr. Shaik Baksh, who is the 2010-2011 Chairman of COHSOD, observed that failing to make such an investment is forfeiting an opportunity to be economically productive.
In his turn at the podium, he declared that investing in human resource development and youth is a must, an imperative and this meeting will be charting the way forward in that regard.
Baksh acknowledged that having the buy-in from countries is quintessential to implementing programmes.
“We have to address these issues with alacrity and timeliness,” he maintained.
Baksh said, in that way, a number of small countries will be making an impact on the global scene.   
However, he said one area which requires particular focus is climate change, because current decisions must be made with an element of sensibility to it.
In that context, Baksh alluded to Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and pointed out that climate change has posed challenges in several sectors but this country is leading the way in adaptation.
He posited that, with education, there is an integration of the LCDS and climate change into the curriculum and development of resources to support this effort.
Final year law student at the University of Guyana (UG), Mr. Stephen Roberts, sharing a youth perspective, said there needs to be an enhancement of the regional educational prospects.
In his opinion, the challenge is to ensure that, irrespective of backgrounds, no youth is left behind.
He said the reality of today’s Caribbean youth surrounds crime, lack of employment opportunities, HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy or simply falling victim to circumstances.     
“We do not need a system that caters to mistakes, but one that embraces second chances,” Roberts said.
He recognised, too, that today’s youths, process information differently and advocated that emphasis must be placed on the present technology age.
Roberts said youths must be looked at as part of the solution not just part of the problem and should be equipped to be more competitive on the global market.
CARICOM Assistant Secretary General, Human and Social Development, Dr. Edward Greene, said the participants have a solid foundation to further their discussions, a decade of dedicated service by the COHSOD.

Designated Ministers
The Council, responsible for the promotion of human and social development within CARICOM, comprises designated Ministers of Member States. 
The group is particularly expected to:
* promote the improvement of health, including the development and organisation of efficient and affordable health services in the Community;
* promote the development of education through the efficient organisation of educational and training facilities in the Community, including elementary and advanced vocational training and technical facilities;
* promote and develop coordinated policies and programmes to improve the living and working conditions of workers and take appropriate measures to facilitate the organisation and development of harmonious labour and industrial relations in the Community;
* establish policies and programmes to promote the development of youth and women in the Community with a view to encouraging and enhancing their participation in social, cultural, political and economic activities;
* promote and establish programmes for the development of culture and sports in the Community;
* promote the development of special focus programmes supportive of the establishment and maintenance of a healthy human environment in the Community and
* undertake any additional functions remitted to it by the Conference, arising under the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Greene reported that approximately 95 per cent of COHSOD’s mandate has been implemented over the last 10 years.