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Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 25, 2017 (SKNIS): A new avenue to streamline the opportunity for persons residing in St. Kitts and Nevis to give back to their community and the country as a whole will be introduced next month.

 

Pierre Liburd, Acting Director of the Department of Youth Empowerment, said open registration for a Youth Volunteer Corps will begin in August 2017. The Corps is in keeping with “the department’s mission to develop and deliver quality programmes, services and activities that foster active participation” in a number of areas including volunteerism and mainstreaming youth in community and national development.

 

Most locals associate volunteerism with helping out during national and community events such as Independence celebrations, Caribbean Premier League (CPL) matches, or the Green Valley festival. However, it also includes participating in a beautification campaign, working in a soup kitchen, donating blood, helping children with homework, organizing an activity for teen mothers, and a host of other activities.

 

Mr. Liburd said the department is high on volunteerism as “it allows for problems to get solved by the persons closest to them, and expands the number of ideas, energies, skills and resources that are available to address the problems.”

 

The programme falls squarely under the department’s third theme of “Youth as Agents of Change: Volunteerism and Intergenerational Partnership” as outlined in the draft Federal Youth Policy.

 

The acting director added that volunteerism generally has a positive impact on persons who freely give up their time to serve others.

 

“It generates a greater sense of appreciation of one’s purpose, collective capacities and sense of pride in your community and your country,” Mr. Liburd noted, adding “that it is an important avenue to build a sense of national pride and civic responsibility.”

 

Persons between the ages of 16 and 35 interested in joining the Youth Volunteer Corps can register next month at the Department of Youth Empowerment.