 The Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment through its Youth Empowerment program hosted the Anti-Crime and Violence Ex-Tempo Challenge on June 6th, 2021. The virtual event was held in conjunction with the Community Relations Branch of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force and the Central Development Bank. Gilroy Hall, host of the event and mentors of the participants, expressed that the initiative sought to engage young people on their views on crime and violence using Ex-Tempo. The format that was used is slightly different to the other challenges of the past. Generally, with the Ex-Tempo challenges, you had the challenge being thrown out there and persons would just create their own compositions, send them in, and that was about it. But we took a different approach and hats off to the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment for embracing this idea under the Youth Empowerment Project and of course with assistance from CDB and of course the Community Police and Initiative of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force. So we engaged the youngsters in a series of workshops. The idea was not to tell young people what to say about these issues, but to get information from them about their perceptions, their views, their possible solutions, all any ideas that they have for developing safety in their communities and community development. Commissioner of Police, Milton Daisy, spoke on the important role that young people play in the betterment of society. Partners in the organisation of this workshop and the implementation of the Ex-Tempo challenge and very importantly, Yuda Yufo of St. Lucia, who have embarked on a historic and noble journey. Partnerships in our communities and countries safer, more productive and a joy to live in are extremely important and your contributions today and in the years to come can certainly improve all of our lives. Our youth have a very important role to play in the nation building and the subject matter which you are attempting to help us with is an area that we need to get under control at the soonest. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment, Vylda Jusef, encouraged each participant to look within themselves to become productive citizens of society. Thank you for participating in the Ex-Tempo challenge. What a great way to showcase your creativity, your skills and your talents. Best of luck to each and every one of you. Remember, you are all winners. The Ex-Tempo challenge engaged 24 participants in three age categories from various schools and communities in castries. Terriel Massion participated with an entry entitled Happy People, Happy Community and Jaden Mondazy from the Zaira Simmons Secondary School with a piece entitled Crime and Violence. Ladies and gentlemen, I love my community, but there are some things that make me unhappy. The quarrels and fights really troubled me, we can do better, we can live peacefully. I may be too young to sit in Parliament, but my community, I want to represent. There is my advice to everybody, Happy People means happy community. First things first, what I want to say is that our people mustn't go astray, because all we can do is open pray that these bloodthirsty men never get deprayed. Great peace and thieves, they are all the same, rob you of your dignity, but don't be ashamed, admit your crimes, go make a report, so that you will get justice one day in court. The feedback obtained from the participants will be used by the Royal St. Lucia Police Force to create new strategies to tackle the issues of crime and violence. From the Government Information Service, I'm Huma Dimath reporting.