Jamaican Youth Partner with United Nations Country Team to Stage National Youth Town Hall with His Excellency Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th UN General Assembly

This week His Excellency Abdulla Shahid the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) paid a working mission to Jamaica. This was the first visit of any sitting UNGA President to Jamaica. Mr. Shahid supported the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) with high-level advocacy interventions around gender-based violence, climate action within small island developing states and greater engagement of youth in governance.

The Youth Town Hall was the first official engagement of His Excellency, as part of his detailed high-level agenda with senior government officials including the Most Honorable Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica. 

The Governor-General’s Programme for Excellence (GGPE) and the Youth Advisory Council of Jamaica (YACJ) cohost the event and led the mobilization of island-wide youth representatives including youth parliamentarians, leaders of youth groups and community based organizations, representatives from uniformed groups, young people living with disabilities and ambassadors of the Governor General's I Believe Initiative (IBI).

The Governor-General’s Programme for Excellence (GGPE) is the youth-led principal vehicles for community outreach activities of His Excellence Patrick Allen, the Governor General of Jamaica. The GGPE coordinates the Governor General’s Programme for Excellence and the Governor General Achievement Awards. Historically, the GGPE works with  strong focus on issues of:

• Education
• Youth engagement and volunteerism
• Family Values

The GGPE celebrated 30 years in 2021 and recognized the occasion alongside UN76 with the re-start of its annual Youth consultative Conference, the largest hybrid consultative effort of youth in Jamaica and the English speaking Caribbean. 

The Youth Advisory Council of Jamaica (YACJ) facilitates continuous engagement of young people in youth development policy and programming actions of the Government of Jamaica. The YACJ is one structure geared towards the fulfilment of the Goal VI of the CARICOM Youth Development Goals (CYDGs), which seeks to ensure and enhance youth participation in all levels of decision-making, programme implementation and oversight. The YACJ works to mainstream the needs of youth through Government of Jamaica (GOJ) programmes and activities during all phases of programme development, implementation and evaluation. The YACJ is also the Steering Committee for the National Youth Parliament, toward ensuring that the deliberations of the parliament are presented to, and discussed with relevant decision-makers. The YACJ is structured to ensure that youth are provided with an avenue for full participation in decision-making processes as equal and valuable partners.