PIOJ Director General Encourages Young People to Dream Big

Young people are being encouraged to engage, speak up, listen to others and to dream big to transform lives.

Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Wayne Henry, made the call at the opening of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2024 Ready Set Great Youth Conference, on October 17, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

The two-day Youth Conference, which coincided with International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, October 17, also focused on the Global Release of the 2024 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a poverty measure that reflects the multiple deprivations that people face in the areas of education, health and living standards.

The two-day Conference, in its fourth year, brought together young people to brainstorm advocacy plans to promote and gain support for their 2023 Call to Action on Youth Poverty.

In attendance were UNDP Resident Representative, Kishan Khoday; senior officers of ministries, departments and agencies; members of the Diplomatic Corps and delegates in house and online.

Dr. Henry urged the young people “to push the pedal of your potential” and not to settle for a mediocre life.

“You have the power to achieve more than you can imagine. It does not serve you to live an average life, just going through. You have so much wealth and talent within you. You owe it to yourself and future generations to harness that potential,” he added.

He said that the Conference provides a timely and vital opportunity to elevate the voices of youth and to bring attention to the barriers they face and explore innovative youth-driven solutions to these challenges.

“Youth are integral to decision-making processes that address urgent development challenges, and their leadership is crucial to achieving sustainable and equitable outcomes,” he pointed out.

For his part, Mr. Khoday said that the UNDP will continue to support youth empowerment programmes.

“I am pleased to announce that the UNDP will strengthen the Ready Set Great initiative into the future and bolster the youth empowerment component of our country programming, towards enabling the translation of dialogue into action,” he said.

Mr. Khoday pointed out that programmes will include new opportunities aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship to help reduce multidimensional poverty in Jamaica.

“The UNDP also continues to advance our technical assistance to Government in exploring the feasibility of, and adoption of a national Multidimensional Poverty Index and our cooperation with UWI in analysing the state of vulnerability across the country,” he said.

He argued that multidimensional poverty can be addressed through collective will and effort.

“We are listening keenly and stand ready to support the way forward. Together, we aim for quality of life and resilience beyond income – on the road to Zero Poverty,” Mr. Khoday added.