Youth Path participants ready for business

Hon Nigel Carty hands out certificates to Youth PATH graduate

St. Kitts, April 1, 2010 (SKNIS): Phase 2 of the UNESCO Youth PATH project came to a successful close on Saturday March 27th with plans for activities that would constitute heritage related business underway.

Participants from St. Kitts, accompanied by their parents travelled to Nevis where they joined their young counterparts at the Old Manor Hotel where a grand graduation ceremony was held in their honour.

Present Youth PATH Coordinators Vanessa Webbe of Nevis and Hazel Brookes of St. Kitts who assumed the position after Maria Crawford, both reported on the way forward for the project for which UNESCO has promised its full support.

Antonio Maynard, Secretary General of the National Commission for UNESCO in addressing the gathering commended coordinators past and present for performing creditably resulting in tangible on the ground activities that justify the benefits of such a project.

In St. Kitts, plans are underway for the development of a cultural presentation at Queenie’s Well Belmont Estate St. Pauls, which is the official site for the Youth PATH Project in St. Kitts. Participants are optimistic that the Queenie’s Well story which unveils a sordid romantic affair with a failed murder plot, would make an interesting skit for visitors. As such, they have started practicing the skit and have further plans for the sale of refreshments and souvenirs as well as other activities on site such as massage therapy on one of the moonlight nights during which they hope to perform these plays. Infrastructure for the project include the construction of bleachers for guests as well as a dressing room for actors.

In Nevis the group has organized and begun the activity of launching a business at the Public Market. They have also delved deeply into future plans and started to give the Market a facelift which will include repainting the building. For this project they have made significant inroads in terms of partnerships with other Government departments and the Agro-Tourism project on the island of Nevis among others.

Youth PATH participants make presentation at graduation ceremony

Secretary General Antonio Maynard took the opportunity of the graduation ceremony to call on others in the Island of Nevis to take the initiative as have done Vanessa Webbe Coordinator and Janet Maloney past coordinator in making full use of other aspects of UNESCO’s offerings which he felt were not fully utilized. He said funding is available which the people of Nevis can capitalize and every effort should be made to secure such through the National Commission for UNESCO.

Minister of Youth and Social Transformation on the Island of Nevis, Hon Hensley Daniel told participants that he was pleased that they had concrete plans for the sustainability of the project as their graduation ceremony should be viewed as a starting point and not a conclusion. He emphasized that social skills garnered from the activity should be married to the business skills acquired. The Minister said whereas Heritage Tourism is not extremely well known locally it is an opportunity for them to chart a new course that can mushroom into great success.

Federal Minister of Education and Information Hon. Nigel Carty, expressed his pleasure at the scope of the project and its capacity to broaden the horizons of participants by preparing them to be successful entrepreneurs capable of standing out among their peers and in the business community. He added that participants would be able to embrace the changes in the global market and volatile business environment with the career enhancing strategies they gleaned from the programme.

Mr. Eric Evelyn, Member of the National Advisory Board for UNESCO, chaired the morning’s proceedings.