 Good evening, and welcome to the 2017 National Youth Council presidential debate. I am your moderator, Eleanor Joseph. I am from the community of Viewfort North, where I serve as the president of the Viewfort North Youth and Sports Council. Tonight we have with us two very dynamic gentlemen, both from the communities of Grosally, who will, in a short while, tell us why they are the best candidate for president of the National Youth Council, which we will also refer to as the NYC. Good evening also to our audience. The NYC is the umbrella body for youth organizations in St. Lucia. Its mandate and objective have been captured by the Act No. 14 of 1997, under which youth are empowered by the state to actively engage in the social, economic, political, religious, and environmental life of St. Lucia. A major role of the council is to advocate on behalf of young people on the issues that affect youth. And because this is a major role of the organization tonight, we will hear a lot about advocacy, as our candidates tell us why they should be president. The organizational structure makes provision for seven member executives, 19 district youth and sports councils, referred to as DYSs, and approximately 150 youth organizations. The National Students Council, the NSC, also forms a branch of the National Youth Council at this upcoming General Assembly in keeping with the spirit of democracy. We expect the outgoing executive will account for the past term in office. Such processes provided will account, will also make need for training and experience for young persons in matters of leadership and empowerment, management, advocacy, and team building. And we also expect the incoming executive to also be able to share with us such plans for the way forward. Tonight, we will hear from our candidates for the role of president of the NYC, and they will share with us why they should be voted in on the 27th of May, 2017, as president. We have Mr. Kirby Sidney, a 33-year-old young man from the community of Grozily. He is the president of the Grand Revere Development Committee, and a youth advocacy officer for the Commonwealth Youth for Peace Association Network. He will, of course, shed some light on that for us in a little while, and we also have with us Mr. Jesharon Andrew, also from the community of Grozily. He is 29 years old. He is the president of the National Equine Welfare and Sporting Association, an advisor to the Jockey Club, and the assistant secretary for the Grozily Youth and Sports Council. Because of our time constraints, we'll go straight to our questions. Our first question this evening, please tell us why, at this point, you think you should be the president of the NYC, not why you should be voted for, but why do you think at this present moment you have the ability to be the president of the NYC? Mr. Andrew. Well, good evening to everyone. Good evening, moderator. Thank you for your introduction. Leadership for me began at a very tender age. Our teams go into peak mangoes. I was always naturally the leader, and from there, growing up with my parents, both of whom were always leaders in their various respective careers, I appreciated and was able to understand certain techniques and listen to their conversations and have a greater understanding and get a gist of what leadership meant. Even working with my mom, who was a nurse, going to work with her on the district community level, she would go out and assist families, and I would see the impact that it would have on persons changing their lives. And from early on, even being involved with my church youth group, and we had a campaign there to be different where we tried to assist young persons, persons, teenage pregnancy and other issues. Coming up through school also, junior achievers at secondary school, you know, it opened my mind to entrepreneurship, etc. For the past 18 months, I've had leadership experience on a national organization and I've taken the organization from a very low level to a point at which now a lot of things are happening for persons within that organization. Also, currently, I work as an agricultural extension officer of the Ministry of Agriculture where I'm responsible for managing 261 farmers and I've been doing so for the past five years. Last year, attending, representing St. Lucia at an emerging leaders conference in Malaysia, I was actually able to speak with some of the presenters and express my intentions in leading the organization. And many of them encouraged me and felt that, you know, I had the ability. And me being very disappointed at the performance of the organization the past few years actually pushed me into coming forward and wanting to lead the organization. My understanding of the psychology of teamwork and team functionality, it is imperative that as a leader you're able to keep your team together, keep your team born there and have everyone performing at, you know, maximum optimal performance. So for me, a combination of these things, together with the fact that I'm very passionate about youth development and the development of my country as a whole because the future of our country lies within the youth. Thank you, Mr. Andrew. Mr. Sidney, do tell us why in this present moment you think it's the right time to vie for the post of president? Hello and good evening, everyone. My interests in youth development has been one that spanned for many years. As a young man growing up at the age of 13, I was introduced to being a part of committees. And one of the things that I learned was structure and administration. And coming through there at the age of 16, I was the president of my youth group. And being the president of my youth group, it afforded me the opportunity to be able to now learn diverse cultures, learn how we deal with situations within a group. And getting into youth development, I'm the community leader, the president of the Grand Evier Development Committee, afforded me also the opportunity to see a diverse section of community development, which included youth. I have also been a part of the interim committee of the Grosley Youth Development Committee. And at that point in time, when given that opportunity, we decided to find out a way that we would truly demonstrate how to deal with the issues in Grosley. We decided to zone Grosley. I was responsible for a zone. And at that point in time, it really showed that it set a path way as to being a part of youth developmental initiatives. And the NYC was one that was very close to my heart. Being involved in the NYC, understanding the logistics of the NYC, it provided me the opportunity to understand how the NYC works within St. Lucia. And I see no need to find out whether I should have been a candidate. I think that I'm really and truly the quality of a leader that the NYC deserves right now, more than ever. And I put my heart in there. Thank you, Mr. Sidney. I'm just going forward. Please be guided that you have two minutes in which to answer your question. And of course, we have our current president, Miss Louise, who is our timer. So please be guided by that. One of the main functions of the NYC is advocacy. What is your experience as an advocate? And what does advocacy mean for you as a young person? Advocacy is very important, especially here in St. Lucia. However, with my experience, I have realized that there is a technique to it. We live in a society that is very color-painted. And you have to approach advocacy, yes, with a boldness, but with a level of wisdom that is needed to get your point across and to actually have the desired effect, which you intend on based on what you're advocating about. In the past, many persons would know in the past year or so have been advocating on behalf of young persons within the horse racing association, who I believe needs to have the opportunity to benefit from all proposals, all developments taking place in St. Lucia. And I felt disappointed with how the proposal was designed in terms of benefit for all of those young persons within the organization. And I've also been an advocate on the grassroots level with my organizations, whereas you have, for example, persons whom want to actually be part of groups and clubs, but may have issues at home. And so your advocacy is not always on the national scale. Sometimes you have to help persons within their smaller groups, conflict resolution, a system of conflict resolution is a form of advocacy, helping persons providing advice to persons within small groups, two and three persons having an issue with one another is also advocacy. And so I believe that moving forward as the organization, we must have advocacy as one of our top priorities to get things accomplished for the youth of St. Lucia. I believe in anything else, young persons need to really and truly understand that they have a voice. They contribute to society. And in anything else, our young persons need to know that their contribution to society is a direct reflection of how our country grows, how we as a nation develop. The young people so far have lost that voice, and it's up to the NYC to challenge that voice towards the young persons. I believe that the young persons really and truly need a body of persons that represent their issues, that represent them as a country. And we are that advocacy body. It's very instrumental in how you go about bringing our young persons to understand that at that level. Because when you really look at our young persons, they don't really know how to challenge themselves. They don't really know how to push forward the agenda of young persons within this country if we do not allow them that opportunity. We need to provide that avenue. We need to provide that hub where they could demonstrate that really and truly the issues matter to them and they could get these issues across. Whatever it may be, whether it's the social issues, religious impact, the impact on the environment, all of these issues that affect young persons, they need to know that they have the avenue through the NYC to bring that out. Okay. Very interesting responses. And I would want to just allow you to elaborate on both your responses. Mr. Andrew, you spoke about feeling disappointment with an organization as to how they represented young persons and how they responded to the need of young persons, right? However, you have been president of the Aircoin and Welfare Association. When you felt disappointed that young persons were not getting the needed voice, the needed response, what was your response? Well, my response to that was to reach out actually to the powers that be through all forms available to me. Press releases, media interviews, sending out letters, telephone calls, and actually ensuring that persons heard and persons were aware of the concerns of those young people. How effective were your measures? My measures, I believe they were effective after a few months. I was in receipt of a document which spoke to some of our concerns. It was released publicly and I was able to call another consultation meeting with those young persons to look through the document because we had consultations prior to that to discuss what the actual concerns and issues would have been. And we felt that we were making progress and as of today I am continuing to advocate on behalf of those young persons and hopefully we can or our voice can actually make a difference. Okay, thank you. Mr Sidney, continue the same question. Mr Andrew spoke about receiving documentation but what do you think is most important when it comes to results as it relates to advocacy? The receipt of documentation to know that you have been heard or the outcome in terms of what is the end product? What are the results of your advocacy efforts? At the end of the day, advocacy is not advocacy until you heard, right? And it's results oriented. You would need to understand that in your development, especially in your development, you'd want to know that the powers that be the those that represent you, they understand the agenda of youth development and they work within you. So we are collaborators in that stage. When the actions that we represent the general council, their issues are issues that we are supposed to channel. And so when we are collaborators with the powers that be whether it be institutions, whether it be government, whether it be NGOs, whether it be those persons that bring out that developmental strategy and it doesn't happen we then need to realize, hey, there needs to be some form of agitation. We need to reach to a point where, hey, if it's not happening, something needs to happen. We need to go a step further. And you do this in consultation. You need to be aware, hey, young persons, we are representing you. We're the ones out there channeling your issues, channeling your beliefs, your motives and we want to hear from you. So continuous consultation to be aware that our strategy is actually the strategy of youth, the strategy of the body that we represent, and we continue on there until something happens. Thank you very much. Investments in holistic youth development is critical to both the sustenance of the NYC and the solution economy. In your role as president, how can you advocate for relevant and effective investment in youth development both from local and foreign investors? And I ask the question simply because as I read your profile, you both have indicated that you don't only have local knowledge but also regional and international knowledge of advocacy and youth work. Okay, I'll start. One of the things that we need to understand as leaders in ourselves, we need to understand that the organization that we represent is an organization that is empowered for youth development and the strategies behind our gender for youth development is one that it needs to be binding. It needs to collaborate with those partners that we represent. We need to work with these youth-led organizations, both nationally, regionally, and international. One of the things that we as a unit should inculcate is the fact that when we, as young as executive leaders, look on the outside, we need to understand that those bodies that represent us, bodies that represent our gender and we work with them. When we develop a strategy for any campaign whatsoever, we need to identify that these campaigns, whether it's locally, regionally, they affect our young people and we work with that campaign to reach out to these young persons. So there must be some sort of collaboration. There must be some sort of interest as it relates to the issues that are both locally, regionally, and internationally that may affect us, that we have strategies down here to really and truly play it out. Okay, Andrew? No matter how much we try to collaborate with international organizations, they always require us to have a starting point. We always must have a bit of the investment which is needed and depending on government at this point in time is not the way forward. If anybody Googles the primary limitation of an NGO, any NGO is financial stability and you have to understand that you have to create ways to bring in resources, not just finance, but other resources that are necessary to maintain the sustainability and the structure of the organization. The organization is structured in that we have clubs and the difficulties of those clubs include carrying out programs, executing events and activities. And as the parent organization, we should facilitate in reducing the amount of stress and depression associated with executing a lot of these activities. And so you have to find creative means to bring in resource, not just financial, but in terms of implements, equipment to properly execute the mandate of the organization. All right. Very interesting responses. And you both have indicated you understand the need to have collaboration. What I need to ask or rephrase is that you having understood that need for collaboration, how do you now go to other agencies and advocacy that we have a need as a youth organization and we need your support and we hope to at the end of your meeting or your intervention come back to your executive and say, yes, as president I was able to secure X, Y and Z. Well, basically you have to understand that many organizations have their agenda, the specific agendas. And in writing proposals or projects, you have to tailor it in a way such that it appeals to their personal agenda. So you might get an organization who, you know, they're concerned about domestic violence. And so you don't write a proposal to them about something that has nothing to do with domestic violence. So it's all about your skills and your techniques with project proposals and writing it to the level and to the skill where you actually gain their interest in wanting to fund whatever activity, whatever program music that you're trying to develop. I think that approach combined with many organizations when we do programs, we fail to give back reports to those international organizations, seeing well your funds were used in such a way and it was beneficial that the impact was this, that this was that. We have to maintain that relationship of those organizations and let them see that their investment was worthwhile. And so the next time we come to them, they will be more forthcoming with whatever assistance that they were able to give and probably even more in the future. Thank you. To be honest, every NYC needs to realize that to gain the access to funding, that'll be a respected organization. So definitely the first part of it is to basically meet those partners that we engage with, those international agencies, those persons to really actually get back to the understanding to, hey, we are really and truly there for you development and we want to partner with you. So we need to re-strategize as to the partners that we adapt to as the NYC. Another strategy that my team would develop is to construct a program implementation team. That team would be wholly and solely interested in policy development and funding, finding out that our programs really actually cater to our young persons, prepare project proposals that would be effective and and calculative and really actually get that that project funded. Those persons would be through the direction of the first vice president would then now initiate conversations with those partners and feel more confident in knowing that, hey, there is a proposal out there and there are plenty of proposal opportunities out there. We need to be able to strategize effectively to get those proposals funded and to have an idea as to how we're going to implement those proposals on the ground. Thank you. Wonderful responses which will prompt me to to ask another question. Both of you have indicated that you have come here with team members and so again I haven't read your manifesto. I know there are two teams, team revolution and team regenerate. Very interesting and I like to sometimes think that I am a little revolutionary. I'm not sure if that's true but we speak about revolutions and regenerating, being different, being better and then I also heard that there's little money but there's money out there whereas your resources may be very scarce here but there are resources out there. Management of resources is critical to the success and growth of NYC. In light of limited resources, how can you as president effectively and efficiently manage the resources while maintaining your integrity and that of the organization? Well for me as a president, one of my approaches is to actually increase on those limited resources. As a people we often tend to develop heavily, not develop sorry, we tend to depend heavily on external assistance whereas we can actually do a lot of the stuff ourselves. I believe in leading by example and finding creative ways to bring in collateral is what we're trying to help the young people of St. Lucia understand and so we as an organization should lead by example and I think that even as an NGO it does not mean that we don't start programs that bring in funds because every NGO has costs and things that need to get done and so it does not mean that you don't find creative ways to make yourself sustainable. Also as a president I think that we need to not only lead by example but develop programs that teach young persons how to do exactly what we are proposing. Okay thank you. Is this Sydney? I always say to my team that in order to manage your resources first of all the number one resource is human resource and when you develop the human resource you have a better understanding of how you go about developing the country on a whole. Our young persons within the diocese, within the clubs, they need to be empowered through finding innovative ways to branch out and to develop themselves and that's where the strength lies. When you work within these establishments you then build that strength where the NYC really actually gets the opportunity to spread its wings to know that the various clubs and organizations are functioning effectively but how do you do that? I believe the NYC needs to maintain these partnerships. It's not just monetary funding but there are a lot of resources out there that the NYC can't tap into and so memorandum of understandings need to be set up with various organizations that we can develop to using resources that they may have at their disposal that we can use as well. That saves us money. Another initiative is as I indicated that we need to tap into the resources on the outside. We cannot depend on government. There is no way that as an organization that we can fund ourselves really into the limited resources that we get from government. So there needs to be strategy as to memorandum of understandings working with the resources, the human resources that we have at our disposal and as well getting some entrepreneurship opportunities within the NYC where we could as well get money on our own. Okay, thank you. Gentlemen, you have been very good in your responses but I want to now get to the meat of the matter where you do not give broader answers but now more specific responses to the questions that will follow. Unemployment, career mobility and the need for decent sustainable jobs are often overlooked by governments who create plans and policies which often only make provision for artificial employment. Please advise two possible strategies to curb this problem. I think two strategies to curb this problem would be actually improving on our education system whereby we stop concentrating on the academics but we broaden the scope for development of our people and we provide opportunities for persons to develop trades and skills that is different from the traditional academic stress that is put on our system. In addition to that I think as a people we can also push heavily on entrepreneurship even with discussions earlier in light of CSME and OECS and curriculum and the ability for our youth, our entrepreneurs to have a wider market Caribbean market. I think encouraging entrepreneurship amongst young persons is one of the ways that we can execute this effectively. Thank you. Okay two things again I in discussion with my team and we spoke at length concerning these things and their issues that these are issues that are perennial. It's not only Saint Lucia but a number of Caribbean countries the the world over unemployment is a big issue and it's twofold. One I believe that the strategy is to make our young persons employable. To get to do that is you need to have some system value in place where through the syllabus of the schools and I always say at least reform for get some subject area that speaks to professional development, getting employable through the world of work. I believe that that needs to be instituted through our schools to get our young persons. Our young persons really actually do not know the the aspects of really actually going out there and getting a job. What they need to do with the various CVs and cover letters, how to approach an interview. All of these things are things that needs to be inculcated through the school system and we need to get that done. So making them employable and as well avenues for employment. I believe that a lot has been done for at-risk youth as it relates to employment in this country as the NSDCs all of these programs that speak to youth at risk but a lot of our young persons who went through school who have done well they go out into the world of work and can't even get a job so there needs to be opportunity and we need to provide those opportunities for those persons. Their persons as Jasrin said relating to skills they are skillful they're not too well on the academics they need to be strategy in place what it means through the school system get those young persons through strategy implementation programs for their skills and use them within communities. Thank you very much. We also want to make provision for the audience to be able to ask some questions. So members of the audience should you have any questions you can prepare yourselves to be able to ask the questions after this one this final question from me for now. I heard there was a common thread with the vice president and now the president that you have felt that you have not received adequate representation from the NYC in times past. My question to you should you become the next NYC president as a young man a young revolutionary person who thinks outside the box what would you do differently with the NYC? What I would do differently with the NYC not necessarily differently but we must be aware that the way in which we use to reach out to young persons in the past it no longer works what percentage of our youth population you know listens to the news or listens to talk shows and the regular traditional avenues which we use to reach out to them get messages to them we have to adapt our methods and our technologies. There's a lot of talk about social media and some persons concentrate only on social media but social media is something that we have to use to our benefit and I can use a little you know analogy here when you when you're baking a cake you don't get the desired effect at the end you go back and you investigate the ingredients the ingredients into making an adult today is the home the society the school media and social media these are all the ingredients that work towards the building of our young people what molds them what has impact on their minds and so if we want to tweak or change what the end product is we have to start with the individual ingredients so we're looking at the school system we're looking at social media you have to adapt you have to change you have to understand the dynamics of this new generation of young persons and effectively tweak and tailor your programs your techniques and your approach to actually reach out and speak to them like nice stated earlier you know young persons now they don't read young persons look at videos and this is an obvious fact you want to reach out to a young person you go to them where they are. Thank you very interesting statement about young people and how you can reach them I would have loved to hear that you actually went beyond sitting with your team but actually went to the various district youth and sports councils because we have heard that you want to rise weeks away from the election but I've not heard that you've actually gone to the to the various district youth and sports council to get that information but we'll get back to you on that and you could tell us some more about that but Mr Sidney tell us. Okay so I always say that the NYC is not is not the the focus the it's not just the NYC it's not just the district youth and sports councils it's not just the clubs but it's youth on a whole we represent the youth of this country and so it has to be one of inclusion and that's something I think that we have lost we have lost the touch of representing the youth of this country we and understanding the NYC the role of the NYC of course we're busy trying to fix the administrative body that we lose the attention and focus of the various dioceses the affiliates even the students council we lose that focus we tend to draw back a little because of the so many things that are happening within the NYC but I think one of inclusion needs to come first of all the young persons need to recognize that NYC is them I am NYC you are NYC we did that body that represents that union and if we don't get that point across the young persons would not know where the focus lies when they need when when they have issues who answers these issues for them who works on behalf of them they would not understand that so I think one of inclusion needs to be one where we recognize that young persons see and understand that we represent them and their views are answered through our governing body thank you very much our time is almost past spent and we want to ensure that the audience gets a fair chance to ask some questions and so our very first question from the audience will be from Mr Zachary Hewpoly. President in St Lucia one is allowed the right to vote at the age of 18 and also in St Lucia one is allowed to consent to sex at the age of 16 this gives a perception that our young persons can understand the complexities of having sex but they're not able to understand the reason why they're voting so therefore you have 16 year olds who can have children at 16 17 but they're not able to vote on policies that may affect their own child positively or negatively so there's this trend of thought that the voting age should either be lowered should be lowered or the age of sexual consent should be raised to 18 what are your views on this issue gentlemen okay uh so and and that's a contentious issue that's an issue that that has been debated quite a while through St Lucia persons have spoken about the age of consent against the age of of relentually casting your your vote I honestly believe that it has to be the age of consent needs to be 18 why say this the complex issues relating to persons consent into sex I honestly believe at 16 you you do not know the responsibility of handling such such a thing you cannot deal with the the the issues that exist thereafter you have the rise of teenage pregnancy you have the the diseases that are out there you you you're not mature enough to make such decisions and I believe if you're mature enough at the age of 18 to to set policy and to be able to to to put your vote where you believe that representative can make a contribution to to your your your community or to your district I believe that you should have the understanding at 18 to know right from wrong you you have a better understanding to deal with this boy that would just shy you and say sweet nothings and and and get into your pants you know and yeah you know so it's it's very important that maturity kicks in at the age of 18 and you should have that opportunity through that thank you well I think that we have to look at a little deeper as to why those ages will you know prescribed and who prescribed you know those ages I think medical personnel who would have done extensive research on hormones and and and development physically of the human body would have proposed the age of 16 based on your development physically your health aspect your hormones how your mind would have developed sexually at the age of 16 I think that had more of a scientific approach to it rather than a social approach you see voting comes more on a social angle and and the interest of a 16 year old is is really low the development of the mind to understand the dynamics of politics at that age is is is not the same as as as how the mind have been how the bodies have developed you know sexually so you have to understand there's a clear difference between how they came to those two ages those those those figures and I always believe in compromise maybe we could bring both of them to 17 compromise very interesting thank you mr. Andrew let's hope that we don't compromise too many things we now have another question from our outgoing president miss louis victor gentlemen something that has been outstanding from the last two general assemblies is constitution reform both previous administrations have started the process but we somehow never seem to get to where we should get to ultimately our structures where we go is affected by our constitution what is your approach to revamping or revisiting nyc's constitution which will ultimately impact that of the diocese and what is your approach or strategy in terms of inclusion in terms of having young professionals because we speak of resources tapping into human resources and we have a lot of young professionals who want to contribute to nyc what is your strategy regarding constitution reform for the national youth council if we are to have a true youth revolution i i i hope i can fit my response into two minutes uh please do start over please timer um the my team and i one of our one of our first orders of the day would be constitution reform the constitution was structured in 1985 you know time has passed the organization we're supposed to represent all youth in st lusia is unable to you know properly properly do so because of the structure of our constitution and one of the things that my group and i have discussed is actually a system to get those youth you know included and it would it would entail actually a community community individual community database those are persons who are not members of clubs however they wish to be a part of the organization and so they register with their district youth and sports council and those persons are placed on an individual community affiliates list now those persons pay a registration fee like if you join in a club and they would actually have to qualify to be able to vote that way you you you safeguard uh any kind of bubble that persons may try to to to put in the system you know and so those persons would have to show active involvement in meetings and activities to qualify to actually vote at a general assembly but with this structure you you actually allow for the inclusion of all youth the constitution currently is very vague it does not provide solutions to certain situations even coming out of the the last the current situation persons have a lot of questions too many questions that can be asked and so the constitution needs to be you know revised and then forthwith thank you thank you mr andrew um very interesting response that that you gave in the sense that you spoke both of inclusion and then um conditions for the inclusion and most times it's a deterrent to young persons but let's hear what mr um sydney has to add to that again i share uh the sentiments of joshran uh there needs to be constitution reform uh it has been tabled twice uh so something needs to happen so my team uh we're going to implement a constitution reform team uh headed by i i i honestly believe that our legal counsel should get some more work after this electoral strategy and i i i think these young persons who have the knack for that sort of reform should provide the avenue and so sit go through the constitution understand what things work present work presently what don't work bring an account to the executive we bring it back to our general body because these are the persons we represent we seek consultation we find out from them whether these things could work we go back to the the the team uh to see how we could strategize and make a more robust constitution that really and truly meets the needs of today's youth the many the millennials those persons that we want to uh really communicate with get in contact with and and so that is that is the strategy that i i i would see going forward as it relates to constitution reform thank you we have a question now from our outgoing general secretary mace uh diane fear justin good night everybody gentlemen um i i always keep saying that i've been NYC from 2012 i've i've seen the leadership qualities of all those that i've worked with i've worked with chenef and shalom timothy fainan and louis victor and for me personally i've i've made a a clear assessment of who they are and what they are and what they can contribute as general secretary um an assistant secretary where i serve it has always been a challenge one to get your team to work as you as you think they should that's one challenge two being in the district youth and sports council even on my community club and to the national level it has always been a challenge to get the responses of district youth and sports council the timing that you want this has never happened these are some of the and three when we are working we work with characters we are working with human beings but we have to function as a team throughout these three ten years these challenges have always been there and i can reassure you that this challenge these challenges will be there my question to you both of you how do you intend as a president as the president of the organization as the leader of the organization as a leader of a team as a leader of a pack speak to the challenges on the ground the administrative challenges and the challenges you will face personally as a president with your thank you just keep in mind persons asking questions you have just one minute in which to ask your question go ahead gentlemen yes from my experience many leaders have failed because they have brought on the leadership techniques associated in an employed scenario setting or the techniques that that they would use in a business setting and actually try to use those to manage a voluntary group voluntary organization and and that is a total clash you cannot use the same techniques in in business or in an environment where persons are paid a salary and use it in involuntary zone you need to understand team dynamics the psychology of human nature how personalities interact how to you know effectively handle conflict resolution you have to see conflicts ahead of time you have to be that milk in the in the in the in the in the cereal that kind of person that gets everybody going gets everybody blended you know that person that is able to motivate the team you have to be able to motivate your team you know first and foremost if you cannot motivate your team i don't know how you're going to motivate a nation of youth you know so effectively your leadership starts with an understanding of personal interactions and then once you're able to get that team functional and working then you can come together and blend your ideas because everybody has different ideas and we have to know how to make all our ideas come together mesh and work together as one unit this is what is you know would solve a lot of the issues associated with leadership in voluntary zone environments thank you sissidney i believe in the philosophy of collaborative team working i i i love working as a team with a team where you have an agenda to fulfill for youth development and i believe that every one of the participants every one of the persons vying for positions within the nyc the demonstrate youth developmental character however i i there will be opportunities as dian fear indicate that things will not always go well but it's about how a team manages itself it is about administrative structure of the team i believe in teamwork and that is one of the pillars of of regenerate to regenerate a team and a team nyc not just the executive but all around the various clubs the diocese the students councils those we affiliate with the youth led organizations that are out there we all work as a team with the goal of youth development and i believe if that strategy is is heard throughout there would be a much better harmony with how we go about implementing these strategies so collaborative team working is is the way to go and there is no way that if you go through that that that point that the organization will not be successful thank we now have the former president of the national students council mr jenny labone yes liberal is liberalism is definitely on the rise over the past few years we've seen global movements in order to attract or pay attention to the agendas of minority groups such as the lgbtqi community we have groups advocating for the decriminalization of marijuana we also have the nationalistic approach of donald trump and the brexit movement as well how do you as the president of a national youth organization cater to the agendas of minority youth within the country how do you represent them and how do you pay attention to their issues in order that in order to give them a national audience um thank you gentlemen please keep your responses to one minute thank you see it it goes right back to uh advocacy and advocacy is a holistic approach we need to give equal representation and equal time you know for the various uh groups and societies and and persons within our communities and i believe that supporting even those groups in minority is is very important because we all make up the society and even the minority groups can actually you know produce leaders produce persons who can develop the country uh down the down the road down the line and we must always remember that full inclusion is important as an organization that is representative of the general youth body thank you mr sydney give them a voice uh provide that avenue where they could express the their beliefs uh because it's it's it's young persons really actually having their beliefs and we give them that opportunity to express that uh there was this uh this group uh the rastafarianism uh when they did uh the the last initiative they had down in the south i i think that these are the opportunities where young persons can express themselves uh through the nyc i honestly believe that they should also be inclusive uh they should be provided an opportunity to work within the the the establishment whatever it is whatever team it may be to get their voice across to have that impact uh one of my initiatives is to allow even this differently able individuals to come on board and to make a contribution to the nyc that is something that i'm really interested in thank you mr sydney we now have miss rejan monthou for a question um given that's a new shall play stood on a um data survey let out by the world economic forum on countries where a woman is most likely to be your boss i would like to ask the two candidates what are your views on women in leadership and how do you plan to ensure that young women are given the opportunity to lead thank you per gender equalities of utmost importance you know and even in forming our team we put together a team which which has a special gender balance we we don't also have and apart from that gender balance you know we we ensure that persons came from varying geographic locations where they can represent the the cultures and the beliefs of of persons throughout the country and um uh like rejan just mentioned you know it is important that we embrace that the ladies our women in society they they are talented just like we the men even within the home we have to understand that women are important my mother always tell my father you can be the head but i'm the neck you know the head cannot turn without the neck you know and so we we need to understand that women are part of society they are important and i'm all for gender balance thank you mrs sydney women are excellent managers uh i would i would go with a team of women uh managing a team of women any day uh over men sorry they're excellent managers they they really actually bring out what you're expecting in in in quality managerial skills and that's come on board i we're making we're setting up teams i really wish that through the diocese and the affiliates that more women show their worth and and contribute to to the development of youth i think that's my favorite response for the evening we have our final question this evening from our syen representative juan husband's treasurer of the caribbean youth environment network good evening everybody good evening nominees it has been noted that the internal constitutional reform is much needed for the nyc at this point in time however what is your priority or on the national youth policy with regards to your presidency and we've got with regards to the molding programs that you would like to implement with regard to that policy um what would you do to ensure or what is how first of all the priority of it what would you do to ensure that it is we've got to agitate effectively in order to implement or to ensure that it's legislated because the last that i noted to is still in draft phase um what would you do to ensure that it's implemented and lastly environmental programs what environmental programs are important do you think important to the youth now and especially in in new of the current programs that are happening which is affecting the environment in st lusia what would the nyc do or you as a president do in order to protect the youth and to ensure the sustainable livelihoods of the youth with regard to those programs thank you miss husbands um candidates you have several questions of several let's try to give us the the shortened form as we quickly remain out of time i'll start with the latter and go in reverse in terms of uh the environment i believe that moving forward we need to help the youth understand that what they do now will be affecting them in the long run in the short run and so we should have many educational programs environmental educational programs to to educate those young persons in in in interesting ways so you you have you know interesting little you know initiatives to get them to understand the benefits of the environment i think as youth we should come together to do a few more cleanups and um you know tree planting activities various activities hands on that get the youth involved in in protection of the environment i'm going to stop you there and thank you for that response and allow mr sitney to elaborate on the second part of the question i was i was asked in terms of the youth policy okay so uh the the second part the youth policies okay uh definitely the youth policy needs to be on the desk of of our our ministers uh it needs to be in parliament it needs to be sitting in parliament uh for debate and approval uh and so uh we will work within our powers to make that happen uh i i believe honestly that the policies the the governing body as to how we then structure our youth programs in this country and uh it is something that is needed more than ever uh and so what i would imagine is that uh going into uh this new term that more consultation has to be done with the those parties involved the diocese the clubs the those unattached everyone needs to be included in basically understanding you go back to the point of inclusion thank you um thank you gentlemen thank you audience you all have been wonderful we've had very interesting responses very interesting you've been here this evening um you have now a rare opportunity of 15 seconds to pitch and if you know what you want then 15 seconds is sufficient it's often been said that the nyc is obsolete it has run its course and and there's no need because diocese thrive without it other youth organizations are able to work without it why should anyone vote for you as president to bring back an organization which most people think they can do without 15 seconds i think now more than ever the nyc needs uh a leader who can administratively and connecting with our young persons to develop strategies uh a leader who is focused uh who is who brings visions who brings absolute effective and strategic programs and who really actually has a knack for uh being able to develop and and and implement programs on the ground for thank you very much mr sydney mr andrew tell us gesturing andrew is very action oriented we are about positive change revolutionary approach getting the job done so voting for gesturing andrew at this election will prove to bring the organization to a point where it is of optimal and perfect levels thank you so much very interesting thank you you have been a one you have been wonderful as um um debaters you've you've set your um points you've made your points we know where you stand as it relates to your development and on the 27th of may 2017 at the financial administrative center young persons will have their chance to voice who they think is the best candidate and who will represent us for the next two years as the president of the national youth council thank you and good evening