JYAN - Jamaican Youth Advocacy Network

The Youth Advocacy Conference is organized by the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Jamaica s Solution to Youth Lifestyle and Empowerment (JA- STYLE).

The USAID funded JA-STYLE Project sponsors an initiative called the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN), which is designed to develop and support youth leaders in the areas of advocacy, public education and capacity building in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, violence prevention, care and protection (including persons with disabilities), employment and entrepreneurship, and education and training.

The mission of the JYAN is to develop, empower and sustain a cadre of advocates to lobby for change on behalf of youth by promoting positive behaviours, teaching techniques of positive advocacy, advising and guiding policies affecting them and building capacity in Jamaica , the Caribbean and beyond.

The target audience will consist of young people from various tertiary institutions, high schools, primary schools; representatives from interested sponsors, relevant NGO's, youth organizations, Government agencies and faith- based youth organizations, etc.

The objectives of the conference are:

To pool youth advocacy efforts within the region so as to strengthen the state of advocacy
To establish partnerships within the Caribbean region for stronger advocacy
To determine the state of advocacy within the region
To foster advocacy efforts among younger children by forming a junior youth advocacy network as an arm of the JYAN
To make recommendations on methods of dealing with various youth advocacy issues

Topics

Youth Advocacy: Adolescent Reproductive Health, Substance Abuse, Violence Prevention, Media, Vulnerable Groups, Inner city Youth
Advocacy Methods: New Approaches, Old Problems
Youth representation, Governance, Decision- making Processes, Lobbying
The impact of youth leadership in the region
Youth advocacy, New Approaches, Old Problems
Youth advocacy through creative art forms (music, dance, visual art, poetry)
CSME, CARICOM, Youth Leadership

In addressing these issues at the conference, various organizations and other interested persons will be invited to write abstracts on any of the topics and submit them for review by April 2008. A guideline for completion will be made available.

Vision

JYAN is the voice of youth promoting participation and demanding positive change in Jamaica across the Caribbean

Mission
JYAN is a youth leadership and advocacy body, supported by youth values which seeks to develop, empower and sustain a cadre of advocates to lobby for can e on behalf of youth by promoting positive behaviours, teaching techniques of positive advocacy, advising and guiding policies affecting them and building capacity in Jamaica, the Caribbean and beyond.

Purpose
JYAN is committed to consistently increase participation of the youth by providing empowerment and training, while sustaining and securing the necessary commitment to ensure a positive national, regional and global response to youth advocacy.

Goals

To facilitate the development of effective youth advocacy networks in Jamaica

To empower and equip Jamaica youth with the skills necessary to participate in the decision making processes that impact them

To increase the participation of youth in the decision making processes of the society

To have in place an established means by which information is effectively disseminated among members of the network and partners