11/08/1998

Conference Chairman
Session Chairperson
Ministers Responsible for Youth, Heads of Delegations and Delegates
UN Officials and Officials of other International Agencies
Non-Governmental Organizations and Youth Representatives
Ladies and Gentlemen

Mr. Chairman, the pace of political, economic, social and technological change in the world has been staggering during the latter half of the 2 1st Century, a pace of change that has produced tremendous uncertainties. As a result, it seems we will enter the new millennium more enlightened about the world but less certain about its future. The changes we are experiencing and the uncertainties they create for the future are daunting for the world's adults and even more so for its young people. The reality is that, whatever the prevailing conditions of the new millennium brought about by these changes, the youth of our world must live with those conditions for much longer than many of us will do so.

It is this reality and our basic love for our children and young people that move us to focus on their needs and potential. We seek through youth development initiatives to enable young people to live productively, both now and in the future. We seek to help them realize their maximum potential and work for the benefit of this and successive generations.

As we focus on youth, in order that we maintain proper perspective, we should be quick to remember the following:

• Youth is but one phase of human development, sharing importance with childhood, adulthood and senior status;
• Youth development programs must run parallel with programs for child development and elderly care in order to achieve the best results for society;
• Youth development is done with youth and not merely for them;
• Successful youth development seeks to provide for the proper transition of youth from child to adulthood and not to glorify youth as an end in and of itself;
• The time when youth can contribute to their families, communities, nations and world is now and not later.

One could ask the question, "Is there a nation in the world that can be pointed to as a success story in national youth development and if so, what would characterize that success?" If there is such a nation, one might well imagine the following to be true:

• That nation would have a comprehensive vision for youth;
• Its social institutions and youth would have clear goals for realizing the positive potential of young people in every area of life and endeavour, namely, in areas of spirit/faith, education and training, health and wellness, relationships, civics, economics, politics and culture;
• Its social institutions and its youth, working together, would pursue initiatives designed to achieve those goals and could point to measurable results produced by such initiatives among a representative portion of the nation's youth population.

I might add, Mr. Chairman, that such a nation's social institutions and youth would ensure that their initiatives are relevant to their indigenous culture and local context while reflecting a sensitivity to global issues and embracing universal principals of human rights, freedoms and dignity.

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is not such a nation but we work each day toward that end. My country has a population of about 285,000 people of whom approximately 53% are under age 25 years. Generally, the activities of our social institutions have worked in favour of the growth and development of Bahamian youth. By and large, they provide for the health, safety, education and economic well being of our children and young people. At present, Bahamian youth enjoy:

• Free and compulsory education up to age 16 years;
• Access to good health care;
• The availability of a Ministry mandated to pursue their development;
• Access to skills training programs sponsored by the Government;
• The availability of employment opportunity; and
• The presence of over 400 private youth, sports and civic organizations dedicated to their development.

While our society provides an environment generally conducive to youth development, there remain the following challenges:

• The need to formalize our National Youth Policy;
• The national coordination of youth programming;
• The need for increased resources (trained workers and funding) to support youth development;
• Inclusion of youth in the decision making process at all levels of society;
• The need for effective outreach to at-risk youth; and
• More effective economic enfi7anchisement of youth

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is seeking to meet these challenges. It is pursuing initiatives consistent with the World Program of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 as well as the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment, the latter being adopted during the 1998 Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting. Our major thrusts include:

• The legislative adoption of a National Youth Policy during this year; and
• The establishment of a National Youth Development Program consisting of the following:

  A National Youth Research and Resource Center

  A National Media Campaign to promote positive self-image and role models for youth;

  A Youth leadership Training and Organization Strengthening facility;

  A Job Readiness and Enterprise Scheme;

  A Personal Development Seminar; and

  A Health, Sports and Recreation Program

We are pleased to participate in this World Youth Ministers Conference. We support the World Plan of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 as a general fi7amework for youth policy development. We also support the general tenets of the proposed Lisbon Declaration.

However, it is the concern of my delegation that we seek to achieve real results for the youth of our world through these forums and the documents that emanate therefrom. A decade from now, the conditions of the world's youth, now numbering some I billion, must positively reflect the efforts exerted at this and other such forums. Girls and boys, young ladies and young men from Ghana, Haiti, Canada, Argentina or any of our countries must experience in tangible ways the outcome of this assembly's deliberations. We must see in their eyes the promised generated here and in their circumstances the wealth produced.

For this to happen, it is our view that we must move beyond defining desirable objectives for youth and describing their prevailing conditions, both of which are not mysteries to any of us. Rhetoric of peace must translate into real action for peace. Rhetoric for Empowerment must translate into real empowerment. The greatest hindrance to this happening is the lack of resources to support youth work. We must use these forums, the agencies of the world system and our national governments to identify resources for supporting youth development. Money, manpower and technology while scarce in many localities is abundant in the world's community. This money, manpower and technology must be guided to programs that can reverse trends in youth violence, unemployment, poor health, crime, non'-participation, lack of education and training, and substance abuse. Whether they exist in Fortune 500 companies, blue chip companies, government budgets, churches, fraternal organizations, the individual wealthy or civil society at large, the whereabouts of these resources and the means to access them often seems hidden. Agencies such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the Organization of American States and other can use their privileged vantage points, their expansive information base and their broad networks to identify them and help NGOs, national government and others to access them.

We know that if we secure the resources needed for youth work that we can realize the ideals of the World Program of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and the Lisbon Declaration. Therefore we ask this assembly, before we end these sessions to consider the following specific initiatives that the Youth Development Unit of the United Nations might undertake:

1. Assessing the extent of resource need for youth work within the network represented by this assembly;
2. Identifying resources in the world community capable of supporting the needs of youth development and make known how such resources might be accessed;
3. Establishing regional advisory boards consisting of directors of youth or other appropriate technical officials within our youth ministries;
4. Establishing an efficient information system within the youth ministries network to facilitate more effective exchange thoughts within the network of this assembly, particularly creating a database of best practices;
5. Pursuing discussions with international funding agencies toward the creation of units to facilitate the financing of youth enterprise and youth programming; and
6. Developing a National Youth Council Development Kit in much the same way the Commonwealth Youth Program produced a National Youth Policy Development Kit, in order to provide specific mechanisms for countries to allow youths to participate in the decision making and leadership process.

I Thank You!