JYAN - Jamaican Youth Advocacy Network

Youth X

Xpression, Xcitement, Xtratainment

Call for Papers

The conference organizers welcome papers from young persons between the ages of 16 and 24 of various schools and organizations in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. Interested persons must submit an abstract which summarizes their paper by the stated deadline. The papers should reflect the same topic and should be an extension of the abstract

1. Youth Advocacy: Adolescent Reproductive Health, Substance Abuse, Violence Prevention, Media, Vulnerable Groups, Inner-city Youth

2. Advocacy Methods: New Approaches, Old Problems

3. Youth representation, Governance, Decision-making Processes, Lobbying

4. The impact of youth leadership in the region

5. Youth advocacy through creative art forms (music, dance, visual art, poetry)

6. CSME, CARICOM, Youth Leadership

Presenters should reflect on the following:

v The state of youth advocacy in Jamaica and the wider region

v How youth advocacy make a positive change in the Caribbean

v How are people being affected by the current advocacy efforts

v What should be done to make advocacy efforts become more effective

v What should be the role of young people in the decision making processes of their country and on regional governing bodies

v What should be the level of support in youth advocacy efforts from faith based organizations

v How music, dance and other creative art forms impact on youth advocacy

v What are some of the 'hidden' issues relevant to youth advocacy

Proposals are welcomed in any of the following formats:

Individual Paper Presentations: Authors are requested to provide up to three keywords to help organizers to assign accepted papers to thematic groups.
Panel Organization: Individuals may propose the organization of a panel around a common theme. Organizers must submit both a panel abstract as well as the abstracts of the papers to be included in the panel (maximum of 4 papers per panel).
Poster Presentation: Authors must submit an abstract clearly indicating that they are interested in a poster presentation.

Submission Guidelines

v Complete abstract submission form by March 31, 2008

v The authorÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s relevant biographical and contact information (name, age, mailing address, email, organization) and abstract title should be included

v Papers should be no longer than 400 words

v Presentations should be no longer than 5 - 7 minutes in length

v Papers will be reviewed by the selection committee based on content, presentation and suitability for the event and relevance to the Conference focus

v Participants must be between the ages of 16- 24 years old

v The language of the Conference is English