THERE was a traditional concept that only adults should be involved in
governance because youths lack the experience, acumen and discipline needed.
However, with time it has been shown that this concept is outdated. In today’s world, increasingly, young people are assuming the mantle of leadership in governance and administration in every facet of life.
Today, we have young presidents, prime ministers and other political leaders, CEOs, judges, magistrates, community leaders, etc, who are performing excellently and which defies the outdated concept that youths are incapable of being successful in governance.
The reality is that because of Information Technology, young people of today are exposed to knowledge and information that would take adults from the older generation decades to accumulate. As such, while experience is always an asset, it does not necessarily provide the requisite knowledge and information needed to make one successful in governance.
Consequently, the current trend is to increasingly involve youths in governance at all levels of society which is a positive development, as there was a long period when they felt alienated and was perhaps reluctant to participate in anything that was primarily adult led.
On this note, therefore, the recent training programme which began for 30 youth leaders drawn from Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam); Region 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara); Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica); Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice); Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne); and Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) to help them play a role in the development of their communities and the country, should be applauded and encouraged. The training programme is a component of the Local Government and Regional Development Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Youth Empowerment and Inclusion and Reconciliation Project (YEIRP).
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud, stressed that one of his ministry’s leading expectations is to have 30 persons, who are well energised and equipped, as well as competent and efficient, who will be dedicated and committed to giving their best to their fellow youth, while being guided by the ministry to play a more constructive role.
The YEIRP is aimed at addressing the challenges of inadequate youth participation in local governance by providing training to develop the capacity of youth to become protagonists for good social and governance practices and to participate in local governance, he said.
This is an excellent move as our local government system is in disarray and needs all the administrative and managerial support possible. At the same time, when these youths return with the acquired skills they should be able to help rekindle the community spirit which, unfortunately, has been dying slowly in our country.
We must not be mistaken to think that it is only in developing countries that the community spirit is necessary. On the contrary, the concept of the community spirit is alive and well and in fact is being further encouraged in the developed world.
Betsy Engebretson in her article: ‘In Empowering Youth, Remembering Adults’ points out that:
Russian youth specialists know that getting adults to embrace principles of youth empowerment doesn’t come easily. The traditional Russian approach to working with youth focuses on preventing negative behaviours, rather than building on positive abilities or working with young people as partners.
“Youth empowerment, in other words, is a major ideological shift. IREX is playing a part in this shift by providing adults with hands-on experience in applying the principles of Positive Youth Development theory (PYD) in three regions in Russia, the latest new phase of its Youth Development Competencies Programme (YDCP),” Engebretson wrote.
She noted that under the PYD approach, youth, who range in ages from 14-23 in YDCP, are partners and a resource to be developed, rather than a problem to be solved.
Once youth find a positive environment where they feel secure, they can flourish and develop competencies needed to become successful adults and engaged citizens. After three years of working directly with youth and youth-serving adults through YDCP, IREX is sharing its knowledge with influential adults in order to effect broad change for youth across Russia.
So the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development is on the right track and should stay its course and seek to widen and deepen the concept of youth empowerment.
