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The Government is spending approximately $82 million this fiscal year on youth empowerment and development programmes. The Ministry of Education has been allocated $50 million in the 2009/10 Estimates of Expenditure for a Youth Development Programme aimed at strengthening institutional capacity to implement, monitor and evaluate youth policies and programmes. Support will be given to existing projects, and new initiatives...

Ladies and Gentlemen, join me in creative imagination. Close your eyes and picture this:A backdrop of unfurling mountain ranges, towering peaks and lush vegetation - sixty thousand revelers sway in unison, to Jamaica's music, reggae music, enchanted by the warm, friendly atmosphere. The voice of Bob Marley fills the air with a haunting melody and the mass of people ingest...

The Mandeville Police Youth Club will on Saturday (April 4) stage a fun day to support its social outreach programmes in communities across Manchester. The event will feature many popular sport activities, involving teams from across the island. "The Police Youth Club is a large organization in Jamaica, and we will have persons from a wide cross- section of the...

Emancipation Day will be celebrated on August 1, as usual, this year although the date falls on a Saturday. A release issued by the JIS yesterday had quoted Minister of Labour and Social Security, Pearnel Charles, as suggesting that Emancipation Day will be celebrated on Monday, August 3, instead based on the provisions of the schedule of the Holidays (Public...

Hundreds of reggae enthusiasts attended the second staging of the Reggae Symphony concert series, held at the Broward Centre for the Performing Arts (BCPA), Fort Lauderdale, on Sunday (March 29). Included in the line-up were reggae singer, Freddie McGregor; reggae songstress, Marcia Griffiths, and veteran singer and songwriter, Bob Andy. They were accompanied by saxophonist Dean Fraser and Lloyd Parkes...

General Manager of the National Building Society of Cayman, Dunbar McFarlane, has urged young Jamaicans to exhibit a fixity of purpose, as only this would ensure their success, in this climate of economic change and uncertainty. Speaking at the first in a series of Sixth Form Distinguished Lectures, hosted by Knox College, in Clarendon, last week, Mr. McFarlane challenged the...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Andrew Gallimore, has appealed to Corporate Jamaica to come to the aid of the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD), while pledging his Ministry's full support for the cash-strapped institution. "We are going to try, from the Ministry, to see what we will be able to do to...

Jamaica's Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, the Honourable Olivia "Babsy" Grange, has accepted an invitation from CARICOM to be the Minister of Culture who will "lead, provide expert advice and 'Champion' the many issues on the culture agenda of the CARICOM Region." A letter to Minister Grange from CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General for Human and Social Development, Dr. Edward...

The first ever International Jerk Cooking Challenge, held on March 20 at the Jamaica Inn Hotel in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, proved exciting for participants and patrons. The event, which featured demonstrations by self-taught Jamaican executive chef, Cheryl Smith, of Cheryl's Global Soul in Brooklyn, New York, and United Kingdom-based celebrity chef, Antony Worrall Thompson, was highlighted by a competitive...

The National Centre for Youth Development (NCYD) is revamping the National Youth Council to enhance and extend its reach to the country's young people. Co-ordinator of the National Youth Council, Trishan Haughton, tells JIS News that the restructuring is necessary, as "it was found that the level of involvement of youth clubs is somewhat limited because previously, we operated in...

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) has extended the deadline for entries for the 2009 Festival Song Competition to March 31. Chairman of the Festival Song Competition, Vernon Derby, said that this year competition, dubbed Festival K9, promises to be a "bashment" affair. "We are in search of a song that will lift the spirit of the people," he told...

A programme specifically designed to attract young people to agriculture, is to be implemented by the Government, shortly. The Young Farmers Programme will involve young persons, aged 18-35 years, and will provide them with the necessary resources to become successful farmers. Making the disclosure at a young farmers forum at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), during a...