Youth Festival 2020 launched |22 August 2020

The 21st Seychelles Youth Festival, under the theme ‘Opportunities’, is in full swing after it was officially launched in a ceremony held at the Victoria Gymnasium yesterday evening.

The launch was attended by Designated Minister and Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture, Macsuzy Mondon, principal secretary for youth and sports Fabien Palmyre, principal secretary for culture Cecile Kalebi, chief executive of the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) Penny Belmont, and chief executive of the National Sports Council (NSC) Jean Larue and a handful of youths.

Given the health restrictions and the limited number of attendees, the launch was streamed online through Facebook and YouTube for those at home.

The festival which will span over seven days will be showcasing young talents in different activities such as entertainment, sporting, educational, recreational, environmental, and entrepreneurship.

The line-up of activities include a cooking competition, spelling bee, film viewing targeting youths with special needs, the Positive Youth Award as well as the Youth Challenge Award.

Yesterday’s Youth Festival launch displayed a vibrant and dynamic Seychellois youth who displayed their talents through dance, songs and even the youngsters from the ProClub Youth Academy stole the limelight with a football presentation.

When taking the podium to address the youths, both CEO Belmont and Larue spoke of this year’s team, ‘Opportunity’, and called on youths to unlock their potentials and take advantage of the opportunities made available to them.

Minister Mondon, who officially launched Youth Festival 2020, reiterated the sentiment and highlighted the many opportunities the youths can avail, even during this health and economic crisis.

The minister noted that this year’s theme reflects the country’s vision for youth which has been encapsulated in the National Youth Policy 2018-2023.

The policy provides a framework with a list of strategies aimed at helping the youth of Seychelles in areas such as education and development, health, economic participation, sports and recreation, and spirituality.

Minister Mondon urged all Seychellois youths to familiarise themselves with their policy.

“Our youth is the time in our lives that are filled with opportunities, where we have to make a lot of choices that could very much impact our tomorrow. So we are asking you all to also reflect on the opportunities that are available today and make good choices,” said Minister Mondon.

“The theme ‘Opportunity’ was also chosen for its relevance to the current reality we faced with; even with the many challenges it has brought, Covid-19 has also presented an opportunity for our youths to reflect on their future and relook at their priorities.”

Minister Mondon also highlighted various government initiatives to support the youths such as the Youth Assembly, temporary unemployment schemes for youth during this pandemic, an entrepreneurship subvention programme among others.

To note, over 600 youths have passed through the Youth Assembly since 2003 and have developed various skills during their tenures.

Meanwhile almost 200 youths have benefitted from the entrepreneurship subvention programmes which the government debuted in 2017.

Her parting words to the youths were to join together to promote unity, harmony and social cohesion in their communities.

This year’s Youth Festival has gone virtual on account of Covid-19 restrictions hence activities will be made available online as well as some that would be recorded and aired on national television.

The accompanying photographs by our photographer Joena Meme show some highlights of the opening ceremony.

Elsie Pointe