Stakeholders from across Saint Lucia’s youth sector gathered at Derek Walcott Square on Friday, May 15, for the official launch of the Saint Lucia National Youth Policy 2025-2030, an initiative aimed at shaping programmes and policies affecting the nation’s young people over the next five years.
The launch brought together representatives from the Ministry of Education, Youth Development and Sports, the National Youth Council and several youth organizations.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Minister in the Ministry of Education Danny Butcher stressed the importance of including young people in the development of policies that directly affect them.
“Any policy that the government has to initiate, any policy that the government has to roll out, it is only natural that you invite the very stakeholders that it would impact,” Butcher stated. “And I’m very happy, first of all, that the government saw it fitting to hear the voices of our young people.”
The minister also highlighted the policy’s emphasis on inclusion, particularly for young people with disabilities and special needs.
“Persons with special needs, persons with disabilities, or persons who are differently abled, for that matter, do form part of those young people,” he said.
Referring to one of the policy’s pillars, Butcher underscored the importance of “security, safety, and peaceful coexistence.”
“That’s one pillar that we want to ensure that persons with special needs are protected,” he explained. “And not only protected, they could safely coexist with their peers who could do other skills differently from them.”
The minister rejected the notion that differently abled individuals are incapable of achieving the same goals as their peers.
“I never want to see their peers, for the want of a better word, say they could do a certain skill and they cannot do it. No, everybody could do the skill, they just could do it differently,” Butcher remarked. “And so we want to encourage that safe coexistence. And I think that’s important for the policy.”
Butcher said the policy comes at a critical time as young people face both longstanding and emerging challenges.
“Our young people are faced with so many issues,” he noted. “Traditional issues, for example, unemployment, bullying, but also now new issues.”
Among those concerns, he pointed to online safety and the growing influence of social media.
“As we look at digital transformation, how secure are our young people on our various social media platforms?” he questioned.
The minister also addressed concerns surrounding disengaged youth, particularly young men.
“Then we also look at an issue that is affecting our young people, the boys on the block,” he stated. “How do we get them off the block to make sure that they’re again an integral part of our society?”
According to Butcher, the launch of the policy reflects a government seeking to respond directly to the concerns of citizens.
“I believe what we’re seeing here today is a government that heard, a government that heard the cries of our people, a government that listened, and a government that is listening to our young people,” he said.
The minister further highlighted education as a central component of the policy framework.
“One of the pillars there is education and lifelong learning,” Butcher explained. “You have to change the mindset and the cultural capacity of people and that’s what we’re trying to do with young people,” he added.