1st Caribbean Youth Forum on Drug Use Prevention - Barbados, October 21-25, 2019

CONCEPT:

The Youth Forum on Drug Use Prevention is a collaborative initiative among the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (ES/CICAD) of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (GS/OAS) and the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Program with support from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the United States Department of State. The main focus of the Forum is to promote youth leadership in drug demand reduction by developing youth-led initiatives.

This is the first time this forum will be held in the Caribbean. Thirteen OAS English-speaking Caribbean member states are invited to attend the 2019 Caribbean Youth Forum on Drug Use Prevention: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago.

OBJECTIVES:

• Bring together young people to train them to be leaders and initiate youth-led drug prevention programs;
• Provide information on the science of drug addiction and prevention;
• Equip young people with knowledge and skills to focus on a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their peers in their communities;
• Identify strategies to empower youth leaders to mobilize their peers to implement these strategies in schools, campuses and other target locations;
• Facilitate the development of action plan for prevention initiatives.

THE YOUTH FORUM ON DRUG USE PREVENTION

The forum is a five-day event where 3 youth participants per member state will gather to receive and share knowledge as well as develop skills and strategies for drug use prevention initiatives. During the first days of the Forum, participants will be introduced to drug use prevention concepts as well as receive training on life skills, project management, volunteerism and media use. After all trainings are completed, participants will break into small groups and work on their project proposals (pre-forum assignments) to develop action plans to be implemented in their respective communities.

The final output of the forum is the action plan designed by the youth participants. The best action plans will be awarded USD 1,000 each as a seed fund to implement the plan in their respective communities.