2018 a year to ‘celebrate youth engagement’ |24 February 2018
The tone of what the youth should expect for this year was set in the youth festival celebrations in August last year. Seychelles celebrated its 18th Youth Festival under the theme ‘Celebrating Youth Engagement’. The theme was adopted for the year ahead which will see the celebration of the Seychelles National Youth Council Anniversary in March 2018, integration of more youth in the National Day celebrations, a more vibrant Youth festival in August 2018 and deeper cultural incorporation during the Festival Kreol 2018.
As such an array of activities have been scheduled on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue embracing various youth components such as consultation, education, civic, cultural, historical, entrepreneurial, spiritual, sporting and recreational activities. Those activities will kick-start with the revamped values programme which is expected to focus on only 4 values per year in a more diversified and innovative way.
The 20th anniversary of the council will be the main highlight for the first quarter of the year which will open up the programmes in the field of mentorship, youth ambassador and youth coaching.
The Youth award 2018 will also be launched during the anniversary celebrations.
The second quarter will see a delegation of youth participating in the CJSOI games in April which will take place in Djibouti.
It is also expected that the youth will play a key role in the National Day celebrations following the success of last year.
Youth Festival celebrations will be hosted in the third quarter from August 17 to 27 followed by peace day celebrations in September. The final quarter of the year will give the youth the opportunity to indulge in their heritage and cultural activities through the Festival Kreol celebrations and the Seychelles National Youth Council will crown the year with its Youth Positive Award in December.
New in approach this year will be to make all programmes as popular as possible where youth can apply freely with the aim of not only encouraging but celebrating their engagement as we draw closer ties with the local government. The structure of the council is designed in a way to establish various platforms so that young people can have a say in the various activities for their development. The structure makes provision for youth to participate at district, regional, school based, national and international levels. Those platforms ensure that consultations are taking place prior to implementation. The latter takes place primarily in districts through the ‘Districts Youth Committees’ under the leadership of the ‘District Youth Workers’, the regions (regrouping 4 to 5 districts) under the leadership of ‘Regional Youth Workers’.
While at all three levels all youths are to be included, school based activities are also taking place with the omnipresence of the Young Citizens Movement in schools. Other youth services which are managed by the youth bureaus provide another platform for services such as internet and basic IT literacy, research and entertainment and counselling. Youth Health services are also provided at the National Youth Health Centre in partnership with the Ministry of Health, a service that we aim to decentralise to inner islands equally.
SNYC’s ‘raison d’être’ depends largely on its affiliation with partners such as youth groups, civil organisations and the government from which it receives its funding. Partnership has been a prerequisite right from its conception and to date the Council consists of local partners and international partners. As such 2018 remains a year to celebrate… a celebration of Youth Engagement.
Contributed