Yute X 2010 Conference

Changemaker: Jaevion Nelson

The Yute X 2010 Conference which will be held at the Knutsford Court Hotel on November 24-36, 2010 is being organised by the JYAN through the Jamaica Youth Advocacy and Participation Initiative (JYAPI). The JYAPI is a two year funded UNICEF project in partnership with the National Centre for Youth Development (NCYD) and the ASHE Performing Arts Company.

The conference seeks to bring together over two hundred children and young people from across Jamaica and the Caribbean with an understanding of the issues affecting progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Participants will share their experiences and ideas on how to promote dialogue and mutual understanding for development with government, policymakers, young people, their allies and other stakeholders.

The Yute X Conference was first held in 2008 and was aimed at raising young people’s awareness on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, substance abuse, crime and violence, youth with disabilities, as well as the state of advocacy in Jamaica.

The Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN) is a youth-led advocacy programme and training organisation addressing youth development related issues, including sexual and reproductive health and rights; Education and training; arts, culture and society and violence prevention. The JYAN emerged out of an advocacy training-workshop hosted by the USAID funded JASTYLE Project that was held in August 2006 at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus to develop youth leaders capacities in advocacy and public education by promoting positive behaviours, teaching techniques of positive advocacy to advise and guide policies affecting youth.