The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

The National Youth Policy (NYP) of the Bahamas is expected to be tabled in Parliament early next year.

With luck, it will be passed without controversy, marking the culmination of a vexatious yet enriching process that began when the country committed to implementing the policy as part of a United Nations resolution 20 years ago.

The chairman and co-ordinator of the NYP consultative team, Tavarrie Smith, shared insights into the creation of the policy with The Tribune over the weekend, nearly a month after he - and Youth Director K Darron Turnquest - attended a UN forum on global youth polices in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The forum saw more than 700 participants from 165 countries converge to mark the 20th anniversary of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, a guide providing policy framework for improving the global situation of youth.

Mr Smith was the lone participant of the forum invited to serve as panellist for two sessions, a recognition of just how impressive the strides his team have made towards allowing for a NYP to be implemented.

Success, nonetheless, hasn’t always seemed so assured.

“Oftentimes we were brushed aside,” Mr Smith said, speaking of his team’s treatment under various governments. “The struggle was that we were/are always at the political will of the government of the day. Our budget was slashed or totally taken away from us, we were told ‘its not a priority for the government.’ We were never given any letters of appointment or tenure for the work; we were always volunteers; we did not/do not have an office; we worked wherever we could find spaces to meet, had no facilities, no equipment, no resources.”

At the core of the team’s plight has been a fight for credibility.

What is a youth policy and why should it be prioritised? Can it succeed in a society where seniority is prized? Would it amount to anything more than smoke and mirrors, to “fluff”?

These are questions Mr Smith often has to answer. His response is always the same: few things are more important in addressing the major problems facing Bahamian society than a comprehensive youth policy which prioritises youth development and ensures the active inclusion of youth in Bahamian policy decision making.

“Young people under the age of 35 represent 68 per cent of the population,” he said. (Youth, when defined in this context, comprises people between the ages of 15 and 35).

“That number is not reflective in any level of management or leadership in this country. Youth are constantly dismissed as irrelevant. It has been the trend for some time in this country to exclude the youth voice, or if we seek to engage them, to only do so in a ‘tokenism’ way to merely acknowledge their presence.

“The words of the the late Dr Myles Munroe on ‘passing the baton’ has hit home for many Bahamians and youth leaders and we found comfort in knowing that someone knew the challenge we face as emerging leaders.

“The global community is changing and the UN’s First Global Forum on youth policies highlighted that shift. ‘Nothing for Youth, Without Youth’ is the new order of business and the Bahamas will be playing catch-up unless we embrace this change.”

The biggest hindrance to greater involvement of youth in policy matters, he says, has been “adultism,” a worldview with a firm religious undercurrent that is characterised by the assumption that adults are better than young people and therefore entitled to act upon them without agreement.

“Gerontocracy and adultism are very real in the Bahamian context,” he said. “It is not in our subconscious, rather it is blatant. When our very Constitution, the supreme law of the land, prohibits young people under the age of 30 from holding office as a Senator, when the majority of our senior public servants are seniors in age (not necessarily wisdom), when a juvenile can be tried as an adult for a crime he commits as a child but cannot get a licence or vote until he reaches the age of majority ... one only needs to look and see that young people in the Bahamas are stigmatised upon merely because of their age.”

The consequence of “adultism,” youth activists say, has been a tendency for leaders to act on behalf of youth without consulting or involving them, even on issues which impact them more than they do other groups.

The fight against crime in the Bahamas provides a perfect example of this. According to Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) statistics, young men aged 18 to 35 are responsible for over 80 per cent of murders. About 80 per cent of murder victims fall into this category as well.  

Yet youth perspectives and involvement in the fight against crime have never been prioritised or actively sought.  

“A lot of the violent murders taking place right now are revenge killings and our police are not proactive in their response but reactive,” Mr Smith said. “Young people know the communities, we know the turfs, we know the wars, we know the ‘issues.’ If we trained young people as reconciliators, empower them as agents of change who can be placed in the streets, in the communities, enable them to engage families and victims of crime, then I believe we would be able to make a dent in these killings.

“Crime fighting cannot always be short-term solutions and Urban Renewal is stretched too thin to focus on long-term fighting strategies. Young people, once empowered, can become key agents in proactive and preventative crime fighting measures. It has to be more than just a basketball tournament, or a community walk-about ... there is a need for hands-on, tactile interaction.”

He added: “Another example is social media and technology. Young people are on the cutting edge of technology and are in the forefront of our country’s ability to maximise technology. Whether it is the latest gadget, device, electronics, equipment, application, programme, software ... we must employ the abilities, talents and unique placement of Bahamian youth to lead the war on crime from a technological perspective.

“The role social media plays with sending out an APB, news updates, helping to locate wanted suspects etc is an untapped resource that our leaders are not deploying in the fight against crime. Young people have the capacity to revolutionise the way we fight crime.

“But are they engaged? No. Are they included? No. Do we allow them to participate? No. Do they have a seat at the decision-making table? No.”

Mr Smith said he is confident there are enough able and insightful young people in the Bahamas who are ready and willing to play a more active role in society.

“In my 15 years of youth development work, I have come across thousands of outstanding young people,” he said. “Having travelled the Bahamas during our research phase during my time with the Local Government Junior Council Programme, I met hundreds more. The challenge is, we have taught our young people that ‘children are to be seen and not heard’ and this abusive proverb has caused our youth to not step forward and offer themselves.

“If they do step forward, then they are labelled as ‘selfish, self-seeking, opportunistic and grandstanding.’ Well as a society we cannot have it both ways. We cannot expect our young people to shine bright and at the same time assassinate their characters. Our young people are able, they can do it, they will do it, and they are creative enough to make it successful if we make room for them at the table.”

Mr Smith’s NYP team, he believes, exemplifies this. For the past seven years the team has been youth-led, made up 100 per cent of volunteers.

“No one ever promised us a dime,” he said, “yet we laboured, advocated and lobbied for a policy. We did the research, we collected the ideas, we hosted the forums, we wrote the document. Young people, volunteers, Bahamians wrote the National Youth Policy of the Bahamas. Not a foreign consultant, and without being promised any incentive. I say to you that there are thousands more just like us right here in the Bahamas.”

• Do you agree? Contact rrolle@tribunemedia.net.