Sutherland calls for young people to make most of resources

Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Dwight Sutherland, is calling on the island’s youth to make the most of the resources on offer from the Government. Speaking recently as he saw a group of young athletes off for international competition, Sutherland drew reference to several shortcomings in the nation’s society and suggested that they could be remedied by our own young people.

Noting that the island produced approximately 4,000 school-leavers each year, Minister Sutherland shed light on the fact that his ministry provided programmes to give all school-leavers the tools necessary to become global citizens, earn a living and raise a family.

“I often say, our policy as a government is to ensure that we empower our young men and women, so that Barbados becomes the best place for young people to live, work, raise a family and to do business. Some may think that we are only focusing on anti-violence. That is also critical, but what is more fundamental is to give these young men and women the skills that they too can become mentors of their own peers.

“Peer mentorship is lacking in this country. We often look to adults to do the necessary mentoring, but we have what it takes within the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment and also Government – a holistic government approach – to give our young people the necessary skills, so they can mentor those who have challenges and to make them good citizens in this country,” he said. (MP)