Kalsey Belle elected to head SYAH-Seychelles |23 January 2018
Kalsey Belle is the new president of SYAH-Seychelles, the local chapter of a regional youth-led non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The new vice-president is Erna Victor.
Both Ms Belle and Ms Victor were previously board members of the organisation.
Stacy Nair is now the new secretary and Shantana Barbé, the outgoing president, was nominated and elected as the new vice-secretary of the organisation.
The new ordinary board members are Rebecca Julienne, Joshua Soffola and Yannick Meme, who now join the two other board members Neddy Jean and Samia Confiance.
All members elected to office will serve a mandate of two years.
The election of the SYAH board members took place during the organisation’s annual general meeting (AGM) held last Saturday at the National Youth Centre, English River.
When asked about her mandate as the new SYAH president, Ms Belle said “it’s an absolute privilege to have been chosen and considering the exemplary work done by my predecessor, the expectations are high”.
“As I start my mandate I would like to explore the possibility, funding permits, of diversifying our projects towards a more holistic approach of sustainable development alongside our existing strong focus on the environment. I would like to further develop the cultural, economic and social aspects of the suatainable development goals (SDGs),” Ms Belle added.
For the upcoming year 2018, SYAH’s project includes the ‘Accountability Advocates for SDG13’, a project which will seek to create a pool of young climate change advocates who will act as watchdogs and trackers for the implementation of the SDG13 and related climate change goals (specifically SDG 7, 14 and 15). Through this project, data will be collected about what Seychelles (at government, private sector and civil society levels) is doing to achieve the SDGs and their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This will then be compiled into quarterly newsletters and annual written report (deliverable before Conference of Parties) which will be useful for policymakers.
The data collected will also be showcased on SYAH-Seychelles’ website through a mapping exercise using newspaper cut-outs, edited news items in video formats and other media links.
Apart from this, other upcoming SYAH projects include the continuation of the Blue Economy Internship Programme which will be in its third edition and the ‘Sea You in Seychelles’ project among others.
The outgoing president, Shantana Barbé who was elected to office in January 2016, said that her two-year mandate was “a good one for SYAH-Seychelles” and that during these two years she and the SYAH team worked really hard to make SYAH-Seychelles the reputable youth-led movement that it is today.
“I would like to thank everyone who from early on saw the leader in me and nominated me to become SYAH-Seychelles president, and I am grateful to all those who supported me throughout,” said Ms Barbé.
“I have acquired a lot of skills and experience for future roles and endeavours, and I was lucky enough to have witnessed so many young people grow through SYAH,” concluded Ms Barbé.
Lisa Bastienne, the outgoing vice-president, on her part said that her two-year mandate was an “experience full of opportunities to develop my leadership as well as organisational skills”.
“I’m proud of how far SYAH has come and of how much we have achieved as a team,” continued Ms Bastienne.
The first part of the AGM focused on SYAH-Seychelles’ highlights for the year 2017 which included the continuation and completion of the first ever Blue Economy internship programme and also the start of the second programme.
That year, similar to the past years, SYAH also supported youth participation on an international level including in the United Nations Ocean Conference in New York and the 23rd United Nations Conference on Climate change in Germany.
Another remarkable highlight for SYAH-Seychelles this past year was the plastic ban which came into force in July following the campaign ‘A Seychelles free from plastic bag’ led by SYAH-Seychelles and also following the work done by other groups and Individuals.
As part of the highlights for the past year there was also a presentation by Shafira Charlette who was selected for the first ever Ocean and Climate Ambassador programme organised by Peace boat - a global NGO.
Also during the meeting there was special recognition for Anael Bodwell, the SYAH-Seychelles co-founder who was recently awarded the Queen’s Young Leaders 2018 award and Shantana Barbé, who received the distinction of becoming an Associate fellow for the Royal Commonwealth Society, a fellowship granted to those who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to promoting Commonwealth values and the lives of its citizen.
S.M Barbé
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