Participants and facilitators attend the opening ceremony of the Vybzing Grenada Bootcamp.
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada--Thirty young people from the tri-island state of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique are participating in a three-day bootcamp that is designed to position them to be pioneers in climate-smart agriculture.
The participants, who are between the ages of 18 and 35 years old, are the newest cohort in the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Vybzing Youth Outreach Programme, which began Wednesday under the theme, “Climate Action Today = Food for Tomorrow.”
“We need to adopt climate-smart agriculture practices and technologies. This is globally regarded as being essential to efforts aimed at supporting vulnerable communities and youth in mitigating and adapting to climate change,” said Yvette Lemonias Seale, Vice-President Corporate Services and Bank Secretary’s Unit at the CDB, while addressing attendees at the opening ceremony.
“I am extremely pleased with this Vybzing Grenada Bootcamp. It is timely, relevant, commercially useful, extremely practical and, most of all, exciting.”
Minister in the Ministry of Youth Development, Sports, Culture and the Arts, Kate Lewis expressed gratitude to the CDB “for giving our young people the opportunity to have their say as we build a more climate-smart agricultural sector,” and also thanked the participants “for accepting this challenge, accepting this opportunity to discuss the issues and challenges facing you in the agricultural sector.”
Meanwhile, Director of Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Dr. Malachy Dottin encouraged participants to take responsibility for climate action in their daily lives.
“Tell us about your actions to combat climate change by using your social networks. Buy only what you need. It is crucial,” he said. “Limit plastic, recycle paper, glass and aluminium … Love your leftovers,” the professor told participants in an interactive address.
A team from the University of the West Indies’ Centre for Food Security and Entrepreneurship is facilitating the bootcamp.
Since 2002, more than 800 young people from across the Bank’s Borrowing Member Countries have participated in the Vybzing Youth Outreach Programme. Themes addressed include information and communications technology for development, citizen security, creative entrepreneurship, regional economic development and road safety.
The programme, part of the agenda for the annual meeting of the CDB’s Board of Governors, aims to inspire participants to take action to build a better Caribbean. ~ Caribbean360 ~
