Youth Survey to be Completed by End of March

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Hon. Olivia Grange, has disclosed that the country's first ever National Youth Survey will be completed by the end of this financial year.

She described the survey, which is being done in collaboration with the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, as a "road map to developing evidence-based policies for the nation's youth".
The Youth Minister, who was making her 2010/11 Sectoral presentation in the House of Representatives yesterday (February 2), explained that the survey is an integral part of the process of renewing the National Youth Policy.

She said it would include "a situational analysis and programmatic inventory, which will determine the key areas for policy attention, and provide a means to measure the effectiveness of the policy…we will provide a clearer picture of the economic, social, physical, spiritual, educational and political situation of Jamaica's youth".

Miss Grange said the results of the survey would help the Ministry to improve youth services across government. "We expect that the survey will expose gaps, which we will close, and weaknesses which we will strengthen," she remarked.

The survey, and policy, falls under the Ministry's Youth Development Programme, which aims to facilitate the transition of unattached youth to adulthood, and the world of work.

The elements of the first phase of the programme, which is financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, include the establishment of Youth Information Centres; and the revision of the National Youth Policy.

CONTACT: ALPHEA SAUNDERS