Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment (Barbados)

The programmes of the YDP are need based and developed based on empirical information collected during national surveys, consultations with young people, seminars, and on-going face to face contact with youth within their communities.

In order to achieve its vision, the YDP has developed a number of measurable indicators which include: Facilitating the creative potential of young people by mobilising, guiding, and channelling their ability to access a wide range of governmental and non-governmental services.

Increasing the number of youths that are engaged in productive activities.

Increasing the number of young people that are involved in structured programmes that seek to develop their skills and knowledge.

Enhancing participation in youth groups.

Changing in negative behavioural attitudes and behaviours.

Developing Barbadian youth that are well rounded and adequately prepared with the necessary life skills

Re-integrating At Risk Youth into the development of local communities.

Maintaining a directory of youth and community organizations.

This programme provides for the design of effective entrepreneurial programmes for youth that promotes growth, innovation, revenue generation and wealth creation through improvements to their business operations.

YES delivers a package of strategic business offerings that is designed to meet specific needs of the existing and potential entrepreneur as follows:

Business Counselling and Mentorship

Entrepreneurial Development Training

Direct Technical Assistance

Financial Counselling and Referral

Accounting Services

Marketing Services

Entrepreneurship Education - YES Junior Programme /Summer Enterprise Programme.

Outreach and Public Relations

The Barbados YouthADVANCE Corps programme is designed to help shape our young people, between the ages of 16 to 20 so that they can help Barbados to become more competitive in the twenty-first (21st) century and beyond.

Provision of a dynamic organisation that supports innovation, social and economic transformation, empowerment and global citizenship

To increase youth empowerment through the development of programmes and projects that increases youth engagement, encourage positive change and high standards of achievement by the youth of our nation.

The objectives of the programme are as follows:

Alignment to the 3-pronged national first-job initiative;

To provide for skills training and engendering of lifelong education in a disciplined and organised environment;

To develop a national workforce that is futureproof, well-trained and fit-for-purpose to thrive in the increasingly ideas and digitally-driven Barbadian and global economies;

To continue the learning process, exposing individual participants to rigorous but exciting and rewarding experiences;

To leverage the natural inclination of post-Millennials to support matters of social good and social justice, reinforcing citizenship and responsibilities to put others and country above self;

To establish a pool of persons on which Barbados can draw for national events and low-risk, post-emergency situations;

To prepare each participant so that she/he becomes a more employable and productive member of society.

Structure of the Programme

The Programme is a two (2) year programme and commences with a twelve (12) week residential phase designed to expose participants to discipline, citizenship and civic education, self-esteem building, etiquette and a range other personal development courses.

Participants will be counselled during that period in order to address any psycho-social deficiencies and issues which may prevent them from taking full advantage of the course offerings.

The residential component will be followed by approximately nine (9) months of specific technical and vocational training in areas that are aligned to the needs of the emerging labour market.

The second year of the programme will focus on work experience activities, and will include job attachments, apprenticeships and internships as well as participation in community service and national projects.

To elevate sports as a central pillar of Barbadian national identity, social development and economic prosperity

To provide a structured framework towards focusing the efforts of the stakeholders of sports in Barbados, while promoting sports as a mechanism for social development, sensitizing Barbadians about its economic potential and facilitating the development of a sustainable, high-performance system for sports.

To provide an overarching framework to guide the development of sports in Barbados.

To sensitise Barbadians about the sports related career opportunities.

To provide support to key stakeholders of sport to enable their achievement of their mandates.

To maintain high levels of compliance with the international treaties and conventions to which Barbados is signatory.

The National Sports Council is a statutory board established by the National Sports Council Act 48A of the Laws of Barbados.

To ensure that independence celebrations in Barbados become a more people-participatory activity, touching the lives of every citizen in all communities across our nation and that our Independence becomes more than just a one-day celebration, but a state of mind in every Barbadian throughout the year and heightened during the entire month of November.

The objectives of this programme are as follows:

To encourage the fullest possible community participation in the celebration of Barbados’ independence and nationhood;

To expose and further develop the nation's enormous sporting, creative, artistic talents and abilities through organised community activities

To develop and enhance the sense of patriotism, self-sufficiency volunteerism and community-mindedness within our communities;

To encourage and promote the celebration of independence throughout the year.