— make financing easier for small businesses, says young advocates

YOUNG people were given the chance to ‘float’ their own recommendation on how to solve the issue of unemployment in Guyana, at a Round-table discussion held on Tuesday, as part of observances for National Youth Week 2019.

“As you may know, youth unemployment continues to be one of the major issues affecting Guyana’s youth, and, as such, there is the absolute need for collaboration to address this,” Director of Youth (ag.), Leslyn Boyce, said at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) where the event was held.

The idea behind the discussion was to give young people a platform where they would be able to discuss issues of unemployment and subsequently make recommendations and suggestions, with the aim of assisting the Department of Youth, and the government at large, in addressing this issue.

Young people present at CASH hailed from many of the administrative regions and were represented by various youth leaders.

Youth Challenge Guyana (YCG) Executive Director, Dmitri Nicholson, firmly said youth unemployment in Guyana should be depoliticised.

According to him, in every political party’s manifesto and while campaigning, the politicians profess, that once elected, they will be the ones who will reduce the issue of unemployment that has plagued Guyana for many years now.

“It’s the same script for everyone,” he bemoaned.

IKEMBA representative, Kibwe Copeland also shared similar sentiments.

“It is our hope that events like these are not just used for political mileage… but be a stepping stone towards initiating change, giving young people an opportunity to voice their concerns, and, more importantly, agree to the formulation of solutions,” he said.

Copeland also underscored: “IKEMBA believes that the way forward towards decreasing, and at large, putting an end to this unemployment crisis is a collective effort, not only with the major stakeholders but the beneficiaries, the youth.”

CONSULTATIONS

In effecting this collective effort, he opined that it becomes pertinent for consultations such as this youth unemployment round-table be done regularly and to involve a system of “inclusiveness” whereby all stakeholders, especially the youth can have their input.

Nicolson, like many of the presenters, also stressed that education is an important avenue to equip young people to tap into the job sector. But according to him, the education system is one which needs to be changed a bit.

“We also need to stop making our classrooms static,” he stressed and later opined: “There is no challenge in the school system except to remember things… the school system is just churning out people who can just remember and not to think for themselves.”

According to him, young people’s talents and skills need to be identified and developed, instead of having to follow the same ‘one size fits all’ rubric.

Increased focus on Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET), particularly for school dropouts, was also emphasised.

The YCG head also called for more representation of youth in leadership since he believes that it is time to start doing “something dramatic” and “drastic”. The reason for this is because youth would bring fresh, youthful strategies instead of those that have been exhausted over the years.

He directed focus to Guyana’s modus operandi, vis-a-vis creating jobs over the years, through the creation of industries.

“We cannot just want to use the same solutions that worked in 1980… ‘let’s develop another industry, let’s keep trying to work with sugar’– and expect that we are going to get a different result,” he stressed

Representative of the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Sherwayne Crammer indicated that, in indigenous communities, youth leadership is also necessary. According to him, many of the communities are led by “old” leaders who serve relatively youthful populations.

Nicolson also suggested that government looks towards volunteering as another platform that can be used to engage youth and foster employment opportunities and zeroing-in on the private sector.

TAX REBATES

“Our private sector has a key role for helping youth… government can start recognising the number of youth that private sector employs,” he said. His suggestion was that government can incentivise the private sector to employ more young people by perhaps offering tax rebates.

Representative of the Guyana National Youth Council (GNYC), Dr. Shonette Waterman was of the opinion that the processes of young people accessing funds that are available should be much easier.

“Cut down some of the unnecessary red-taping that prevents young people from accessing grants and resources,” she stressed.

The government, through various schemes, particularly through the Ministry of Business and the Small Business Bureau, has made available funds in the forms of grants and loans for young people to access in an attempt to promote the creation of entrepreneurial and small business ventures throughout the country.

Waterman, however, opined that while these funds have been made available for young people, they may sometimes face difficulties in accessing them due to the number of prerequisites put in place.

Members of the audience agreed with this and one young business owner shared the difficulties she faced in accessing a small loan to create her own small business. “The barriers are ridiculous,” she said, adding: “Persons should be given the opportunity to be their own boss.”

Subsequent to Tuesday’s engagement, the Department of Youth will prepare a comprehensive report and will share all the ideas, suggestions and concerns raised. The director of youth noted that the body aims to ensure that these are taken into account and that solutions are crafted with these in mind.