More work needed to improve youth interest in CARICOM- Ambassador Alexander

If young people are not on board with the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), it will not be successful.
This is the view expressed by the Ambassador for St Vincent and the Grenadines to CARICOM, Allan Alexander, who addressed a group of secondary school students at the CSME Secondary School Youth Summit 2024, on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. The initiative, now in its second year, is spearheaded by the Business Department of the St Vincent Grammar School.

The students, 15 in all, each represented a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member State and presented on the topic ‘Navigating the Blue Economy for Sustainable Entrepreneurship’.

CSME definitely holds immense potential for driving economic growth and development within the region, but the lack of awareness among young people poses significant barriers to fully realizing these benefits.

Alexander noted that despite the fact that people under the age of 30 years make up sixty percent of the population within CARICOM, many of them are unaware of the benefits of the CSME and how it can enhance their lives and their futures.

He highlighted the opportunities that CARICOM facilitates for jobs and trade and development among Member States in the Caribbean such as the CARICOM Skills certificate. Alexander said there is often a gap between the approval of policies and the dissemination of information to the public. This certificate allows persons to work in any CARICOM Member State once they fall within the approved category of workers. Some of the approved 12 categories of workers include university graduates, holders of associate degrees, nurses, Teachers, sports person, media persons, artists, beauticians, security guards and agriculture workers.

“Information on CSME is often disseminated mainly through official channels and government publications, which most times, don’t effectively reach young people. You find when policies are approved, they are implemented at the government levels, and students like yourself have no knowledge of exactly what is happening and how you are affected,” Alexander pointed out.

“…there’s also the perception of young people, that CSME is primarily relevant to government and business leaders, rather than young people seeking employment, educational, and business opportunities within the region.”

He added that there were other factors which contributed to the lack of awareness about CARICOM, including the lack of information in the schools’ curriculum on the topic.

“So this means that many young people graduate without a firm understanding of the principles and opportunities which can be harnessed from it; we therefore have to find new and innovative ways of adding to this, to our everyday teaching in our schools.”

Alexander also highlighted the CARICOM Young Professional Programme, a four-month programme which provides training and education of young professionals to equip them to navigate the complexities of CSME, noting that this can be an area of interest when students become eligible.

“I know most of you here today are business students, and I’m urging you to take the time to get to understand more about the workings of CARICOM and CSME, and take advantage of all the benefits which can be derived.”