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Official Media Release from the Community, Family and Youth Resilience program (CFYR)

Friday, January 18, 2019 — Georgetown, Guyana – The Caribbean Summit on Youth Violence Prevention concluded on Wednesday after two days of addressing prevention efforts for staggering youth crime and violence rates in the Caribbean, higher than in Latin America and Africa.

The Caribbean Summit on Youth Violence Prevention, bringing together approximately 250 participants from 21 countries in Georgetown, Guyana, was hosted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Community, Family, and Youth Resilience Program (CFYR), the CARICOM Secretariat, UNICEF, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission, and the Caribbean Learning for Youth Networking and Change Sessions (LYNCS) Network.   

Throughout the Summit, youth leaders met with representatives of development organizations, civil society, and government, including CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque and the following Ministers.

• Dr. the Hon. George Norton, Minister of Social Cohesion, Ministry of the Presidency, Cooperative Republic of Guyana, representing the President of Guyana
• Hon. Khemraj Ramjattan, Minster of Public Security, Cooperative Republic of Guyana
• Hon. Shamfa Cudjoe, Minister of Youth & Sports, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago
• Sen. Hermangild Francis, Minster of National Security, Saint Lucia
• Hon. Floyd Green, Minister of State, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Jamaica
• Hon. Adrian Forde, Minister of Youth & Community Empowerment, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Barbados

Much of the Summit agenda was livestreamed and currently available on facebook.com/cfyrprogram. The Summit hashtag was #CaribYouthSummit2019.

Key sessions, included:

• Promoting Healthy Masculinity
• Youth-Driven Responses to Criminal Gangs
• Deleting Bullying: Addressing Bullying in Policy and Practice
• The Arts as a Remedy for Youth Violence
• Positive Vibrations: Improving Mental Health

The Summit discussions will inform the youth-driven Advocacy and Action Agenda (AAA), building on the 2013 CARICOM Social Development and Crime Prevention Action Plan. The draft agenda makes a strong case for promoting the scaling-up of innovative programs that aim to prevent and reduce crime, foster social inclusion, and promote reintegration; the document received verbal endorsement from Hon. Shamfa Cudjoe, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Youth and Sports, on behalf of the Ministers present during the discussions.