NEWLY elected Chairman of Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice), Renis Morian, has admitted that there might not be many youths on the Regional Democratic Council (RDC); but he has indicated that a Regional Youth Authority will be established to function separately, as they “wouldn’t be working in the midst of ‘senior’ adults, but will be youths and youth speaking.”In preparation for this, Morian said: “We have to move now for them to have a building, because one of the things we are looking for them to do is a regional audit of all the sports facilities in Region 10, and also looking for them to right away have a youth award programme in November.”

Accordingly, Chairman Morian quipped: “Give them a timetable. Why? Because the youth have done a lot in Region 10, and there has not been much highlighting about this. So we felt it (was) better to not have them on the council, but to give them their own council, which is giving them more credence and the opportunity to speak with their peers.”

With this in mind, Morian said: “The proposals have to come to the Council. They have to be shared and approved by the Council. Then we take them forward and to probably now impress on the Government as possible to have these things done, where in that budget for 2015 nevertheless, I still expect to see funding in Region 10 to start some of these projects.”

This idea is part of what Morian has put together as the concept of integrated development, which he stressed “doesn’t start like curriculum in the classroom. It speaks to all the sectors working at the same time, as all the sectors need to work and you give them their own benchmark output you want to see, and you work with them. By now to year end, we have to see some things happening for the youths, see the Youth Award Programme, and we will have the inventory in terms of the youth facilities.”

By Joe Chapman