CARICOM finalizing Youth Entrepreneurship Manual

Photos from the February 8-11 workshop where the content for the CEBO Manual was fine tuned. Photos courtesy Pierre Liburd.

Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 12, 2012 (SKNIS): The Youth Desk at the CARICOM Secretariat is close to finalizing a manual that will be used to equip young people throughout the Region with the knowledge, attitudes and skills to successfully run a business.

Much of the content and activities in the manual dubbed “Creativity for Employment and Business Opportunities (CEBO)” were fine tuned during a February 8 to 11workshop that was held at the Ocean Terrace Inn in St. Kitts. Participants included Marcia Brandon of the Barbados Youth Business Trust (BYBT), John Roach of the Dominica Youth Business Trust, Senior Youth Officer in St. Kitts Pierre Liburd, CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Dwayne Gutzmer and Kerry Chen of Jamaica, Ian Richards of SKNIS, and CARICOM’s Deputy Programme Manager for Education Patricia McPherson.

CARICOM’s Deputy Programme Manager for Youth Dr. Heather Johnson, who chaired the meeting, described the sessions as “productive” and noted her pleasure with the contributions from the participants.

CEBO is the CARICOM Secretariat’s response to the issues raised in the report of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD) which highlighted that the Region has the highest rate of unemployment for persons under the age of30.

The instructional document was first developed in October 2011, when members of the public and private sector and civil society agencies throughout the Region convened at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort. Some of the information included in CEBO has been adapted from the BYBT manual.

The final draft of the document is due in the coming weeks and officials plan to test the CEBO manual in St. Kitts and Nevis.