Students to discuss crime at regional bank event

(CNS): Local students will be taking part in debate about citizen security with regional experts at the forth coming high-level Caribbean Development Bank’s Annual Board of Governors Meeting. Leaders in secondary- and tertiary-level educational institutions in Cayman are nominating students to attend the Vybzing Youth Programme which is an invitation-only event. About 70 students will participate in the exercise to explore the issues and concerns surrounding citizen security and violent crime.  Students will be chosen for their ability to contribute to the national and regional discussion on citizen security in communities, officials said.

Angela Parris,Vybzing coordinator and manager of the Caribbean Development Bank’s Information Services Unit said the all-day forum, which will be held on 17 May. “It will equip youth with the tools to develop their own community-based projects on citizen security,” she said. “Youth representatives also will be given a voice at the annual meeting’s closing ceremony on 24 May, to share their views and recommendation for action.”

Speakers at the event include Dr April Bernard, a lecturer in sociology and deputy dean  in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. Programme Manager Paula Mohamed, of the Barbados-based United Nations Development Programme and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States; and Portfolio Manager Deidre Clarendon, of the Caribbean Development Bank.

Opening remarks at the event will be given by CDB’s Vice-President and Bank Secretary, Yvette Lemonias Seale; and Cayman’s education minister Rolston Anglin.

Parris explained that the youth forum has now become embedded in CDB annual meetings, as a way to inspire, inform and engage youth in the meeting’s host country. This year’s theme for the youth forum reflects the agenda of CDB President Dr Warren Smith who, in his address at the 41st Board of Governors’ Meeting inMay 2011, acknowledged that crime and violence is a major contributor to anxiety in Caribbean society, and that subsequently it should be given high priority on the development agenda.

“CDB will work very closely with governments, community-based organisations and other stakeholders to begin to address the infrastructure deficiencies and social interventions needed to engage and transform communities adversely affected by crime and violence,” Dr Smith said.

For the Vybzing Youth Programme, CDB is working with the University College of the Cayman Islands and the International College of the Cayman Islands. More information about Vybzing is available on www.cdbvybzing.org/facebook.