Business View Caribbean Dec. 2018 / Jan. 2019

12 13 CREATING FUTURE GOOD THROUGH YOUTH TRAINING “H ow old are you, Dara?” asked one of the youth delegates to the Eastern Caribbean Youth Symposium. She was talking to Dara Jerome, a symposium co-coordi- nator from the NGO createfuturegood, on the last day of the five-daymeeting in Trinidad. “How old do I look?” Jerome teased the dele- gates.They shouted: “Seventeen!”“Twenty-four!” Jerome,who is 19,was one of some two dozen young people working at the symposium, staged by UNICEF and the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs from November 19-23. The symposium’s theme was “Our Education,Our Future.”Youths and their chaperones came from all 12 of the countries covered by the UNICEF Eastern Caribbean office. UNICEF representative, Dr.Aloys Kamuragiye, said in the program’s notes that the symposium was a way to equip young people in advocacy for the future, part of the UNICEF Generation Unlimit- ed agenda.The campaign seeks to have all young people in education, training or employment by 2030. Createfuturegood,which is based in Trinidad and Tobago,was responsible for planning and executing the training. Exercises included work- OPENING LINES shops in advocacy, design,TV production,writing, and presentation.Most of the teammembers were youths, and that was intentional. It was part of the NGO’s goals to equip young people with real skills whether they were delegates or working at the symposium. Abdul Majeed Abdal Karim, 20, fromMorvant, Trinidad, is a createfuturegood youth coordina- tor, doing database and administrative work and helping to organize workshops.At the symposium, he led the social media team, planning the strat- egy,managing his team of two, and creating and posting content on the NGO’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. “It definitely helped me to realize some leader- ship qualities I hadn’t recognised,”he said at the end of the week.“Being an integral and signifi- cant part of the symposium, having responsibility placed upon me and delivering well,made me feel empowered, like I can take on more tasks like this.” Createfuturegood has been doing child rights advocacy for ten years in the Caribbean region. It makes widely-distributed, child-friendly videos on themes such as preventing bullying and child abuse. It is also known for creating community murals painted by children. As part of the symposium, delegates spent the morning of World Children’s Day painting a mural in the common areas of the Princess Elizabeth School,Woodbrook,with the school’s pupils. Kyle Fraser, 18, a multimedia artist fromWest Moorings, Trinidad, and three other young people–Ome-