 The purpose of this press conference is to officially announce the opening of nominations for the election of officers to the National Youth Council's executive for the next two years. The NYC's executive is made up of seven positions. We have a president, a first vice president, a second vice president, a treasurer, a public relations officer, a general secretary and an assistant general secretary. As a committee recently established to lead the entire process for elections, we seek generally to improve the overall process of elections for the organization itself. We want to present a truly nationwide opportunity for young people to participate in the affairs of its main representation organization. Amid calls for revamping the organization's structure, its constitution and its operations, we recognize that the quality of leadership and the quality of the organization is key to its proper function. The role of the election committee therefore, it shall be to ensure a fair, a transparent and a participatory, but very highly professional approach to electing the next crop of leaders for the organization. The process is being guided by our electoral regulations in conjunction with the NYC's constitution. And going forward this morning, we have members from that elections committee who will present certain components of the regulations to you, the public and to young persons listening, so that we are very clear as to what the procedure is for nominations and how you can get involved if you are interested in joining the National Youth Council or serving on the executive. The board is comprised of five persons, namely a representative of the general council membership of the NYC, a representative of the electoral department, a representative of the department of youth development and sports, a former NYC president or stalwart and a young attorney-at-law. Today we have three members of the committee present, Ms. Sarah Lee Williams, who is representing the department of youth development and sports, as well as Mr. Zachary Hippolyte, to my right, representing the general council membership itself and myself as an immediate past president. Also, we have Ms. Danthea Justin, who is the current general secretary of the organization and Ms. Kim Kyle, also on the executive, but they are also representing the general assembly's planning committee going forward. So I will turn over now to Mr. Zachary Hippolyte who will go over the nomination procedures for the organization. Good day, St. Lucia. In terms of the nomination process and procedure, well, first of all, you must complete a nomination form, and this form must be completed by the organizations. It's a basic form. It speaks to that of the name of the nominated person, the full name of the nominee, date of birth, et cetera. Now, in terms of accepting the nomination, I will be reading from the NYC's electoral regulations. When the nominee signs this document, the nominee confirms that he or she accepts this nomination and agrees to the following. The NYC reserves the right to withdraw my nomination with or without in cases where it is discovered I do not have the claim qualification experience. I have not obtained, for whatever reason, any appropriate nomination requirements. If the nomination is subject to background checks, the understanding that the nominee must disclose details of any criminal records, including convictions, cautions, reprimands, and final warning, and any other information that may have a bearing on their suitability for the position. The nominee understands that producing false or misleading information will disqualify them for the nomination process, or if elected, will render them liable to immediate dismissal. The nominee acts in contravention to the NYC election regulations and NYC constitution. The nominee understands that no person on the executive shall be under the age of 18 years or over 35 years during the term. The nominee understands that if elected, they will be required to participate in an official installation ceremony when oath will be administered. The nominee understands that if the nomination is approved, they will have to be physically present at the NYC general assembly. The nominee declares that the information given may be used by the NYC for administration or public relation purposes under the relevant data protection laws. I'm now going to speak to that of the verification requirements. The nominee for any position on the NYC executive must be one, a registered member of a youth organization registered under a district youth and sports council in accordance with the NYC constitution article three, membership, or two, a member of a recognized youth-led organization registered with the Sinusha National Youth Council or the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, and three, must be between the age of 18 and 35. Now, I need you to understand something. Membership organizations may include sports, cultural, religious, and community groups, as well as student councils, uniform groups, and the youth section of political parties. For an organization to qualify for membership, it must have a minimum of 10 members, and the majority of its members must be between the ages of 12 and 30 years, and it must be democratic, voluntary, and self-governing. The nominee is responsible for ensuring that all documents and information required to determine that the nomination have met the conditions set out in the electoral regulations be submitted by the stipulated deadline. Incomplete or late nominations will be rejected. Upon size factory completion of all verification checks, and I really have to speak to that part, especially verification checks, I could tell you guys that this is a very serious process. We, the electoral committee, I would say that we have improved or expanded on the verification checks. So there will be a new procedure when it comes to that. So we want you the nominees and the members to be on top of the game. We're a little tired of individuals who just present themselves for nominations to be on the executive, and then after two years you hear nothing of them. This has to stop. The work of youth is very important in this country. So we have to ensure that the right persons are in the right places. So incomplete or late nominations will be rejected, like I said, and nomination for NYC will take effect on the date the nominee is notified for the candidacy. Now a checklist. Please provide copies of the following documents where applicable. Please do not send original copies. I repeat, do not send original copies. So therefore, you should submit a completed nomination form, a short manifesto slash statement of intent, a passport size photo, sorry, of the nominee, any relevant supporting documents. Please submit nominations via email to nominations.nycslu.gmail.com. I repeat that again, nominations.nycslu.gmail.com. All applications must be addressed to the returning officer, St. Lucia National Youth Council 2017. Now nomination forms are available for pick up at the Department of Youth and Sports, temporarily located food floor of the Sir James Stanislaus building, and that's the same floor with that of the Ministry of Tourism. They are also available online via the St. Lucia National Youth Council Facebook page. All right. Thank you, Zachary. Well said. So now that we've mentioned the nomination process, Miss Erie Williams will go through the electoral timeline agreed to. So the dates in there are very important. All right. Thank you, Mr. Fodenan. Well, today, January 24th, 2017, we have the formal opening of the nominations. Monday, April 17th, 2017 at 11.59 p.m., we have the closure of the period for submitting nominations. Thursday, April 27th, 2017, the notification and presentation of candidates, which will be at a press conference, and the opening of the campaigning. What this means is that, excuse me, it means by then the electoral committee, we would have shortlisted all the nominations, the persons who have submitted the nominations, and we would have done our verification checks by then. On Saturday, May 6th at 2017, we have the public presidential debates. Friday, May 12th, 2017, the deadline for submission of the delegates list. And Saturday, May 27th, 2017, we have the general assembly and elections, the formal announcement of election results, the oath of office, and the installation ceremony. This takes place, like I said, on Saturday, May 27th, 2017. All right. Thanks, Seri. Now, we ended with the general assembly. The elections will take place at the NYC's general assembly, which some of you may know is overdue, long overdue. And so, we have with us the general secretary of the National Youth Council, Ms. Dianthea Justin, and we have Kim Cahill as well, who will speak to any plans so far or any information so far on the general assembly itself. So, either of you could start off. Well, with the general assembly steering committee we've already met, and we have put some plans in place. So, we have decided to go with the students councils first. So, we're starting to do the councils in the north of this coming Saturday, just to educate them on what general assembly is about, the process, and then participating actively in general assembly. And the following Saturday, we also have the students in the south that we're going to meet with. And the DYSCs, we also plan to visit the district youth and sports councils to engage them, and sometimes do, maybe between the months, do two sets of visits so we can introduce ourselves, the procedure of general assembly, how the election process goes. So, people are informed, and then the second procedure would be to meet again with the group presidents, the organization presidents, club presidents, and the DYSC presidents again, to just regurgitate and go over the assembly process and elections, and then even submitting nominations and being actively participating in that process. So, these are our plans so far. So, effectively we have at least four months before the general assembly, this time giving ample time for persons who are interested to get what is necessary for organizations to prepare themselves. Do you have anything else to say on that, Dan? Well, what I want to say in regards to the whole general assembly of the National Youth Council is that I just want to reassure persons that the electoral committee is working independently. That's one, and we have the executive having the task cut out for them and the general assembly's steering committee have the task cut out for them. So, it's like three persons working on the same project with different roles to execute general assembly. I would like to encourage all young persons within the District Youth and Sports Council, youth organizations to please, if you know you have an interest, if the interest is there, if you're willing to serve, that you have four months, they have four months to think. I don't think you have four months to think, but we give it ample time for you to think about it, for you to go back to your District Youth and Sports Council, find out who is the president of your District Youth and Sports Council, find out who is your youth officer so that they can guide you as to how the process is. You could feel free to contact the email, the electoral committee, at the email address. You can feel free to contact me as the general secretary if you want further information or clarification as to how the process is done. So, it's just me encouraging persons to just be part of the process. We're looking for full participation and inclusion from youth across the board. It may seem that we've heard that the NYC is always something that is up there. It's really not something that's really up there. It's something that is a body that represents all young persons. So, we want to bring that relevance back to young persons that we will need to serve everybody across the board. We have other youth organizations, but the NYC serves a larger population. So, going forward, like I said, we encourage everybody to submit your nominations. The electoral committee will decide at the end of the day who fits it or who don't fit it. But it's up to you to submit your nominations, come forward. If not, just come forward in terms of helping plan the assembly in itself or coordinating or lending a hand as to how you can support. Nice. So, I think that's an important point in terms of inclusion and participation. There is a notion out there that the National Youth Council doesn't truly represent all young people. However, it must be understood that the National Youth Council is not restrictive. And its dormancy or its liveliness is based on the young people at the time. So, if you have a civil society where young persons are civically minded, you could say politically minded or astute, you will find that young people will come out and speak for their rights, they will come out and speak on issues. The National Youth Council was put in place so that young persons can find an avenue to voice their concerns as well as to participate in getting young people engaged. So, it is there for young people. If it is not being utilized, it's because the nation's youth are either asleep or not making use of what's put there for them. So, we are here to ensure that we set things on a correct path. First, by working on the leadership of the organization, because you must have leadership, and then, of course, ensuring that with the partnership of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, that clubs or communities go through the requisite, you could say, modifications that are required to ensure that we have more participation in the future. Because we recognize that the NYC needs to shift and change in order to actually accommodate young people. And what I wish to add to that is, I believe the reason why we don't have that civic mind and that type of attitude that the chairman is speaking about is because of lack of education. You know, I went through the NYC constitution. This is serious business. I really don't understand what has happened in the past couple of years, but this is serious business. I believe the constitution is supposed to be the bible of the students council and the different D.Y.S.E.s. It's supposed to be given to all youth. It's supposed to be discussed. And when that happens, then you realize that when persons put up themselves for nominations, that this is not just some popularity contest where individuals want to, after two years have gone, they could tell an employer, hey, guess what? This is my resume. I was on the NYC. And then there was no advocacy. I'm actually tired of it to be honest with you. But with this new electoral committee, things are going to change. It's a different thing. If you know that you're going to be nominated because you're popular and you think that's it, then you got another thing coming. Because at the end of the day, who suffers is the youth who doesn't have a voice. And that's not going to be tolerated this year. So we'll allow any questions from the floor. I know we have members, as you see, individuals supporting the planning going forward. Some of whom may actually be interested in the executive. However, we'll take questions regarding the process itself. But what I've been hearing, you know, kind of bouncing around a lot is unattached youth. How do you include, and just to be honest, I don't like the term unattached youth, personally. But how do you include these sets of young persons in the electoral process of the NYC? Well, to answer the question, like you said, unattached youth, I would agree with you that, and here in Seoul, you see, it's not a term that sits well with me either. But what I would like to encourage persons, if they see that they can contribute to the organization itself, I'm saying as an individual who came from the grassroots itself, the unattached, where I was pulled into my community club. And from my community club, I got to my district defense post council. And my district defense post council, I got to the national level. So I would say that I always say that we as young persons, whether we attach or unattach, we're more vulnerable than others, that we have a responsibility to keep up with. A four-year-old has an responsibility after you play with your toys, you pick it up. So I would say to that person that you get to know who's your youth and sports officer. You get to know who's the president of your youth and sports council. Because in every district, whether they're dormant or they're active, there is a district youth and sports council and there is a youth officer assigned to the district. So I would encourage that person to go through that channel. That's the channel that worked for me at the time when I was unattached. So for me, that's the best advice I can give you. I don't know if you take it from another angle as to how we can incorporate them. Let me just add, I've been faced with that question before. And there is something that we all often know, the NYC itself has not really been successful at. And that is its subcommittees. And the powers in the constitution to allow the executive to co-opt persons who are not necessarily members of a club or some sort. As long as you have something to offer, first of all, you must have that urge to contribute. And then the NYC itself must recognize, okay, we need the support of young persons, young professionals, or just volunteers. In the past, we had a volunteer crew. So you can come in, not necessarily from a club, but through a subcommittee or offering your services to the organization professionally. Yeah, but it also has to do with the UICs and the president themselves, the executive. You have to sell this. You have to sell this. The youth is not just going to stay there one day and just say, yeah, there's an NYC whatsoever. No, there are so much distractions. You have technology. You have everything that is distracting you for nowadays from volunteerism. You have to clean a better part. You have to sell yourself. You have to walk. We don't walk again. You like to walk. Go out and meet those persons that we want to call and attach and sell it and let them know, hey, this is, we understand your situation, we understand your distractions, but this is what we can do for you. This is what we can do as a whole. So the youth has to do that. Yes, those who are there who are not registered and stuff have to, yeah, they have to do their part, but we in the chair, sitting in the chair, in those comfortable chairs tomorrow and having the cocktails and the free food, you got to walk and meet those persons and sell yourselves. Good morning. Good morning. I would like to ask the panel, was the $30,000 subvention sufficient to run NYC programs? Well, actually it's not, it's not, it's not even 30, but the subvention year we received is just, it just covers NYC operational course. And that was during team tenure and that was during Jennifer's senior. The subvention really hasn't changed. What we have done in the past is to seek funding from outside agencies. So that's it for us. It's never sufficient, especially when you don't meet young persons, and we're dealing with volunteerism and everybody wants to get paid nowadays. So it's very difficult and it's very challenging and it will always be challenging. Moving forward, I understand there is a slight decision that needs to be made in relation to camp, which normally occurs the day before elections. Is there a final decision on that? In regards to your question, when I was brought into NYC, I started at a grassroots level as well and then I came in. Team pulled me in because team saw how active I was with my group and we did go to camp and this is how we got to know each other. This is how some unattached persons even got into NYC and the stimulation of knowing each other came from camp. And we started, it usually starts, well General Assembly is what we call camp. So it is the election process that is called camp. So we usually start the Friday night and go into Sunday afternoon and within that time nominees get to campaign, they get to meet the groups, they get to meet the other younger persons, student councils, representatives and familiarize themselves and actually sell themselves to it and say what can I bring to youth advocacy and what can I bring to at a national level for the National Youth Council of St. Lucia. So going to camp for me, I always see it as a plus and I see the benefits of us bringing in other young people and actually showing them the ropes, teaching them and letting them understand how far NYC is and what the process is about and how important it is that youth are represented on a national level. So this is something that we are still in between with but I am looking towards having the camp for the plus side of it. I know it's expensive and this is why we're going to reach out to a network for persons to try to assist us with finance and because financing a camp is a lot and this is where we bring in the volunteers to assist us, to look over the younger ones and to assist. This is where I think family builds with youth at camp so we're looking forward to it but as I say finances is something that needs to be taken into consideration and if we are able to pull the finances through, we're headed to General Assembly Camp. You mentioned again in contact with the council and such likes, you mentioned the Facebook page and you also mentioned email so I was just wondering are there any other routes that other people might be able to take to get into contact here that you can actually mention right now? We're starting well with the General Assembly Committee, we're thinking of doing our own Instagram page and the Instagram page is going to be giving you updates as well as a Facebook page but Instagram will be able to do our pictures when we meet with student councils, when we meet with district youth and sports councils, clubs and try to hype it up and make people understand that this is a fun event and this is an event that we need to participate in so we will put out our Instagram information on the National Youth Council page as well so all social media will be able to have those avenues to get to us and contact us and know what is actually happening and participate as well. I'll just wrap up again as early mentioned today is the official opening for nominations so you could start going around finding out who you should come into contact with get your two nominees because every nomination must be substantiated by two references. Go around, you have enough time, ask questions, go through the constitution, you know get to know persons. The deadline for nominations is April the 17th all right and April is Youth Month as well so we know that the jazz festival and different things may be taking place during that time however we want young persons to bear in mind the reason we are starting this early is to be fair and transparent so you have ample time to get involved and we as a committee we will be able to do what's necessary to make it more inclusive so we may decide to make some visits to explain the process to visit a few organizations do what we have to on our part to make sure it's inclusive. Also I want to also give the assurance that the National Youth Council is a highly respected entity in the Caribbean and internationally throughout the Commonwealth. A number of National Youth Councils have taken an example from us from our constitution to establish their own. We now have the Caribbean original youth council which represents NYC's in the Caribbean as well as on the Commonwealth which is made up of 53 states so there is the opportunity to actually not just represent young people in your country but the entire world. We can't have every young person voicing young people's concerns but they are young persons who can make themselves available to go out there and you know speak on behalf of youth in terms of youth. So thank you for viewing we look forward to receiving nominations and we will be back here in April to announce the shortlist of candidates and to announce the opening of campaigning for candidates. Thank you very much.