IN a move to address what it sees as a disconnect between young people and legislators, the Fi We Children Foundation (FWCF) says it is committed to creating more opportunities for youth to get involved in shaping policy, particularly on issues affecting them.

The youth-led advocacy group says it aims to represent and bolster a holistic integration of young people’s voices, ensuring that legislation appropriately prioritises and protects the well-being of this vulnerable demographic.

Speaking at a Jamaica Observer Press Club meeting at the newspaper’s St Andrew headquarters last Thursday, Darrell Scott, a member of the organisation’s Youth Policy Committee, argued that young people had too few opportunities to debate or help shape national policy.

“We see policies are developed within the Government, and although we do have the part of politics that allows you to sit in on joint select committees or it is open for the public to join town halls, we don’t see a lot of it happening, or as much as we would want,” said Scott.

Jordaina Denton told the Jamaica Observer Press Club said that FWCF aims to give a voice to those youth without a platform. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

He argued that this “gap” between youth and policymakers contributes to Jamaica’s high incidence of youth disillusionment with the Government and the wider political landscape.

“That disconnect comes with young people just not feeling a part of the political process and [leads to] apathy being high. Fi We Children is not just another youth-led organisation, we focus primarily on children because we see that children are part of our community and they tend to be exposed to a lot of things that happen in the country, and I feel like they are left behind,” he added.

To address this, Scott said that the foundation has undertaken public education measures on social media, and initiatives targeting schools to engage with children and young adults. He told Observer editors and reporters that such strategies allow FWCF members to adequately understand, represent, and advocate for the concerns and needs of children.

“We do projects that see us going into communities and addressing young people independently… So I would say how we bridge the gap is by continuing to do press releases to bolster rights for children and continuing to do work surrounding the School Nutrition Policy and ADR (alternative dispute resolution) in schools.

Fi We Children Foundation’s Antonio Davis told the Jamaica Observer Press Club that mending the disconnect between youth and the State means ensuring that their voices, ideas, and concerns, are encouraged, appreciated, and heard. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

“We want to see how [these initiatives] have a positive impact on young people without leaving them behind, accounting for all young people and all children. So, [that includes] children with disabilities, children who are in adverse financial situations, and children who are in rural communities,” he said.

Meanwhile, FWCF youth policy committee member Jordaina Denton argued that while mediums that prioritise the voices of youth exist, they often fail to completely represent the challenges of the majority.

“A lot of the times what happens with youth involvement is that we have one to two young people in a space where they do consultations and the voice of the youth isn’t being represented. We are advocating for a holistic integration of youth voices, of course with appropriate safeguards,” said Denton.

Pointing to the work done by youth parliamentarians, she acknowledged that any opportunity in which young people’s voices help to form policy is favourable, but she maintained that that platform was not enough.

“I do think it [Youth Parliament] is a good opportunity. I believe that it does give youth an opportunity, especially for established youth leaders, to have their voices be heard,” she said.

“However that’s just one platform and it’s only a specific number of youth that go into Youth Parliament and not even half of them speak in Parliament, it’s a select number, like 10 members. And so that’s not adequately representative of the youth voices that we have, which is why we have to reach out to multiple young people, so that across Jamaica, their voices can be represented,” added Denton.

The attorney-in-training added that many youth parliamentarians have already established themselves in various sectors. Denton said that FWCF aims to give a voice to those without a platform, and those without the opportunity to participate in such initiatives.

“The members of Youth Parliament cannot necessarily be said to be wholly representative of all the youth in Jamaica because at the end of the day, these are usually people that are already established in the youth spaces.

“We need to be going into, and getting the opinions of people who aren’t necessarily within these youth spaces, so we can get their opinion, like members who are disabled, members who have certain literacy issues, so that we can get the opinions of what they’re thinking and how their involvement can shape the policies in Jamaica because their voices are important as well,” said Denton.

For attorney-at-law Antonio Davis, who is also a member of the foundation’s youth policy committee, mending the disconnect between youth and the State meant ensuring that their voices, ideas, and concerns, are encouraged, appreciated, and heard.

“When we talk about bridging the gap, the presentation we did at the Joint Select Committee [on Child Diversion], we have to commend the Government, for us being able to go and talk in Parliament. I think simple things like that, allowing them to go and talk to the ministers and be in Parliament, things like that do indeed bridge the gap to let the youth voices be heard by the people who are actually making the decisions,” stated Davis.