When you assist the youth and youth based organisations, you will receive the recognition for your efforts, and The Barbados Youth Development Council (BYDC) proved this to be true on Saturday night at the 3 W’s Oval, University of the West Indies (U.W.I.) Cave Hill Campus, where they paid tribute to these groups.
Speaking with The Barbados Advocate after the short ceremony, Roshanna Trim, Vice-president of the BYDC, stated that the Looking Glass Cocktail was to “acknowledge, highlight and applaud the eight youth organisations that they would have worked with over the last two years, as well as two young persons who have made a significant contribution to youth development over these years.”
These organisations are JCI Barbados, A Ganar Barbados, I Am A Girl Barbados, the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN), BGLAD Supreme Counselling, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and the Haynesville Youth Group.
She further stated that this event was in culmination of their International Youth Day activities.
“This year’s International Youth Day theme is ‘Youth and Sustainable Development’. We believe that these organisations have a key role to play in Barbados’ development, as they help to take the youth of Barbados (forward) – giving them the tools necessary for them to become sustainable and productive members of society – and helping to build the future of Barbados.”
The Vice President stated that a ceremony like this is especially imperative, since the youth are often seen in a negative light when they are reported on in the news media, and therefore, they wanted to bring a positive light to young people.
“So often in the news you get such negative news about the youth. We wanted to show a bit of a positive light tonight by awarding people who are actually doing good – members of the youth who are actually reaching out and helping to keep our nation for the better.”
Kimberley Norville, President of the BYDC, added that their organisation, which was formerly known as the Barbados Youth Council (BYC), is one that advocates for the young people so that they can develop into these positive persons.
“The BYDC acts as the umbrella body for all youth organisations in Barbados. Our mission is to ensure that we empower the youth. Our theme is actually ‘Building our youth; developing our country.’ So we work with the youth groups in order to empower them and make sure that there is encouraged collaboration and co-operation; to harness youth talent; to develop workshops that would highlight youth issues to make sure that the issues are being dealt with at a policy level, and we advocate for youth at Governmental level and what not.”