2013 Youth Empowered for Community Action recruiting youth between 13 and 25

Youth Empowered for Community Action (YECA) is once again conducting their annual youth empowerment programme.YECA works to prepare and empower youth to think critically about their environment, identify issues,{{more}} and come up with their own solutions to address them. From the programme, the youth involved will leave better equipped for the competitive work world, a release from the organizers said.

YECA believes that youth have the power to change their communities and their nation if they are given the opportunity to brainstorm innovative solutions and collaborate to implement projects and programmes.

This programme brings together government and non-governmental actors to educate and inform youth on the issues of education and employment, HIV/AIDS, and the environment. It gives youth the opportunity to freely discuss the roots of the problems and work together to come up with original solutions. It also provides youth with leadership development training and a supportive network of advisors to build proactive, young leaders in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The programme will start from July 15 to 19 and will run through October with two weekend, overnight camps. This year’s programme is seeking to recruit 15 individuals, ages 15 to 25, for the Youth Leader positions and 30 campers, ages 13-20, to participate in two weekend summits and one day of community service.

The Youth Leaders will receive five-day training in project design, management, team building skills, leadership development, communication and conflict resolution. They will be given an opportunity to choose an issue that they would like to address that is affecting their community. They will then assist at the weekend summits, working with campers to design a project, which will address the issue they have chosen. The youth will be expected to implement these projects to gain practical experience in community development work.

Interested individuals can find the applications online at http://svgyouthempowered.weebly.com or they can email svgyouthempowered@gmail.com. Applications for Youth Leaders are due by the end of June and Camper Applications are due by August 31.