UG students, CYPCC host roundtable to better network

The first-ever Commonwealth Caribbean Regional Student Leaders’ Roundtable was held in Guyana from November 17-19, 2010 at the University of Guyana.

This initiative was a partnership effort between the Commonwealth Youth Programme’s Caribbean Centre and the University of Guyana, aimed at assessing the common needs and development aspirations of human populations, as well as exploring mechanisms for better networking and advocacy.

The sitting was a consultation of young student leaders of tertiary institutions across the Commonwealth Caribbean, with a special invitation being extended to Suriname, because their youth participation structures are a Caricomrecommended model of excellence. Eleven tertiary institutions attended the roundtable. These included the University of Guyana; the University of the West Indies – Mona and St Augustine campuses; the University of Trinidad and Tobago; the St George’s University of Belize; the Sir Arthur Lewis University of Montserrat; the Turks and Caicos Community College; the TA Marryshaw Community College; and the Anton de Kom University of Suriname.

The roundtable commenced with students sharing an overview of their organisations, roles and purposes, structures that they work with, constitution and evolution of the movement, and their future areas of focus. After the common needs of the regional movements were compiled, the roundtable then sought to address those problems with the vision of a model students’ movement structure. This model will be taken to the respective institutions that were represented, so that they can judge themselves by it.

It was also recognised that there was a desire for a strong network of student movements in the Caribbean region. The roundtable made a decision to commission a team to commence work on a draft proposal for a regional students’ movement during the roundtable. The participants all voiced the urgency for a regional students’ movement that would help to address common challenges of governance, leadership and accountability, budget cuts, inadequate levels of communication with administrations and student bodies, political interference, student mobilization, and partnership management.

The goals of this students’ movement include the execution of capacity-building programmes that would foster leadership and advocacy skills; facilitating networking channels among national student movements by providing necessary resources, and seeking redress of regional needs through research-based advocacy. Ambitious goals were set by the roundtable, which included the establishment of a Caribbean Students’ Movement, and they are expecting support from the CYPCC for an interim start by March 2011, to begin working on constitutional and procedural matters. The primary aim of the students is to produce affirmative young leaders with the capacity to function in a professionally demanding environment. This, they believe, would strengthen the region`s human resource; and with key strategising, formulate long-term regional networks with core stakeholders at all levels of governance.