SEVERAL Youth Groups and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) participated in the Global Shapers Community (Georgetown Hub) recent ‘YouthLink’ event that was geared at boosting cohesion among groups to aid in further developing Guyana.

The event provided a forum where youths from different groups had the opportunity to not only work together but to also realise that regardless of the mandate of their group, if come together, faster results would be realised.

The event’s activities were planned under the theme of ‘sustainability’ as part of the Global Shapers Community’s ‘SHAPE Sustainability’ initiative. Participants began by forming “the human knot” and making animal sounds to find their team members.

Teams then headed into the National Park for a treasure hunt where they participated in activities to earn points that would eventually be used to buy materials to build a “sustainable city”.

While teams were away on their treasure hunt, team leaders remained at the venue to create a blueprint for the building of the sustainable city. This was the primary task of the day. Ten teams worked on ten different blocks of the city blueprint using all sorts of recyclable craft materials like cardboard, plastic bottles, Styrofoam and even natural materials likes plants, leaves and sand.

After the city blocks were put together to form a complete city with roads, housing, a hospital, school, alternative power supplies, a dock and a hotel, participants engaged in a vibrant discussion about sustainable activities and practices.

YouthLink 2015 ended with a Lottery draw. During registration that morning, participants were encouraged to donate $100. Those funds, in addition to some funds from the Georgetown Hub, were awarded to one of the participating organisations. All the names were placed in a box and one was picked at random. The Leo Club of Ruimveldt won $10,000 which will go to one of the great projects they are working on.

This was the first event of its kind held locally and aimed to assist in building relationships between many youth organisations, including those with youth involvement through social networking, while fostering a sense of community among participants.

The Georgetown Hub, in a statement, also extended its most sincere gratitude to the sponsors that made the event possible: W&T George Group of Companies, GMR&SC, Zoon, Southland International, German’s Restaurant, Caribbean Containers Inc., Food For The Poor, SocialRank Media, and Everything Makes Craft.

The Global Shapers Community is a worldwide network of more than 400 city-based Hubs developed and led by promising young leaders between the ages of 20 and 30, who want to build on their achievements and entrepreneurial drive to make a positive contribution to their communities.

Together, they embody the “community of the future”, bringing together empowered youth in a community that is diverse, decentralised, and digitally hyper connected. The Global Shapers Community is an initiative of the World Economic Forum and is independent, neutral, non-political and not for profit.