The Guyana Consumers Association (GCA) has over the last 30 years been encouraging young people to get into the mainstream of national life. In the GCA, there has been consistent drive to get youth to be involved in the work of the Association and to serve in its various offices.

We therefore welcomed the advent of the annual commemoration of International Youth Day on 12th August last. Since International youth Day was first commemorated under the auspices of the United Nations in 2000, its observances and themes have increasingly caught the attention and imagination of governments world-wide.
In most developing countries such as Guyana, youth forms a majority of the population. It is now realized that Society could never be happy, prosperous and fully creative except youth are involved and empowered at all levels.
In Guyana, Government, Opposition, all political parties, NGO’s and religious bodies are committed to youth development and stand on the same platform. This is one of the few issues which have such universal endorsement and support from otherwise contentious groups.
The theme of this year’s Youth Day was “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production.” This theme, though it stresses job-creation, equally involves learning to use the opportunities of financial services, participation in public life, adequate health care and education including perfection in income-earning skills.
The Government of Guyana has put forward a National Youth Development Policy. Many of the developing countries worldwide have likewise been adumbrating such policies and whatever are the imperfections of all such policies, the important thing is that the positive uplifting and empowering of youth has now become accepted as a permanent policy and agenda of the overwhelming majority of countries.
Education has always been part of the agenda for Youth Development but greater skill, experience and expertise need to be tapped when framing educational policies and the content of such education. Children and young people need to read far more and be introduced to the world’s classics. If they read the world’s classics, they would not only drink of their distilled wisdom, but would be improving their understanding of the Human Condition and fellow-humans, raising their cultural levels and at the same time enter a new world of enjoyment.
Job-creation is one of the most pervasive and important of youth policies but this is mainly treated as businesses and other agencies creating the jobs where young people could find employment. Self-employment is by far the better option, but self-employment needs a great deal of background conditioning and guidance.
Indeed, unlike half a century ago, today’s youth seem to be far more enterprising, more innovative and more articulate and provide good material for being self-employed and creating their own businesses. Those who may be working on youth development therefore have an excellent infrastructure on which to build.
Parental conditioning of children and young people is extremely helpful in creating successful self-employed and entrepreneurs. Children and young people have to be taught to save and fully utilize the goods and services for which they have paid.
They have to be taught that money is not only for consumption but also must be used to generate wealth. They have to learn to take risks. For example, if many who live in rented accommodation took the risk and made the sacrifice of buying a house-lot or a small house, the property will most likely appreciate in value, or if they lived in their own house, the rent they would have paid would go towards paying off for the property.
Parents who belong to cultural groups where such entrepreneurial values are weak, should be introduced to such values which could be useful to them and may even transform their lives. Such parents would then be able to condition their children.
Parental conditioning could make youth empowerment far more possible and successful, allowing youth to have their rightful place in society and be able to achieve social and economic betterment thus helping to create a more stable, prosperous and happier society. ( To contact the GCA, write to Mr Pat Dial: patdial26@gmail.com)