The Caricom Secretariat says its Youth Desk is close to finalising a guide that will be used to empower young people throughout the Region with knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to successfully run a business.
According to a press release, much of the content and activities in the manual, dubbed “Creativity for Employment and Business Opportunities (CEBO)” were fine-tuned during a February 8 to 11 workshop held in St Kitts. Participants included Marcia Brandon of the Barbados Youth Business Trust, John Roach of the Dominica Youth Business Trust, Senior Youth Officer in St Kitts Pierre Liburd, Caricom Youth Ambassadors Dwayne Gutzner and Kerry Chen of Jamaica, Ian Richards of SKNIS and Caricom Deputy Manager for Education Patricia McPherson.
Caricom Deputy Programme Manager for Youth Dr Heather Johnson, who chaired the meeting, described the sessions as “productive”, noting that she was pleased with the participants’ contributions.
CEBO is Caricom’s response to the issues raised in the report of the Caricom Commission on Youth Development which highlighted that the Region has the highest rate of unemployment for persons under the age of 30.
The document was first developed in October 2011 when members of the public and private sector and civil society agencies across the Region convened at the St Kitts Marriott Resort. Some of the information included in CEBO has been adapted from the BYBT manual. The final draft of the document is due in the coming weeks and officials plan to test the CEBO guide in St Kitts and Nevis.
