Invest in youth, keep them from crime

“We live in a country where the youths are chastised and blamed for everything. They’re responsible for crime, they’re responsible for this, they’re responsible for that.

Truth be told those youths are our children and grandchildren for those of us who belong to my era. And if we do not provide them with avenues by which they can creatively express the energy that they have then we cannot expect anything different.

So I am challenging those of us from my era, honourable (Labour) minister, ministerial colleagues, for us to invest in our youth.” He was delivering greetings at the third annual Junior Co-operative Enterprise Programme (JCEP) Awards Ceremony held at the Hilton Trinidad, St Ann’s.

The event, a joint initiative between the Labour Ministry and the Junior Achievement Company, was held on the same day as International Co-operative Day which has been held since 1923.

He said the programme is a great opportunity for for them to participate in youth development in the country.

Pierre noted that with JCEP for three years and Junior Achievement for 47 years he has seen the returns from investing in youth.

He said that we have a culture that celebrates winners but the participants in companies that did not do as well have a richer experience as they have learned resilience, which is necessary for any successful business.

He added that people do not see the pain, failures, work, toil and years of sacrifices that go into a business.

Pierre advised the young people to go into their communities and get people together to form cooperatives, adding that neither Government nor the private sector can absorb everyone.

Commissioner for Co-operative Development Karyl Adams said the 2016/2017 project was the largest to date with 14 schools and 350 students.

He encouraged the participants to not let their work end but to use their knowledge to create cooperative businesses. Minister of Labour and Small Enterprise Development Jennifer Baptiste-Primus in her feature address said, “Young people give us hope in spite of all the negativity.” She recalled attending the JCEP fair in Woodford Square, Port of Spain back in April and experiencing pride and joy at what she saw. She said the fair generated $160,000 and she personally ended up with many bags and an empty purse.

She said young cooperators are critical to the success of the movement which is globally worth $1 trillion and has a movement of 250 million. She added that locally the cooperative asset base is worth $14 billion and the membership is 560,000.