National Assembly and youth organisation hold fruitful meeting |06 February 2023

• Talk of reviewing their relationship

The National Assembly’s Media, Youth, Sports and Culture Committee (MYSCC) has said that youth education and capacity-building should be enhanced as these are two focus areas of the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC).

The seven-member committee, led by its chairperson Wavel Woodcock, made the comment last Thursday after holding a meeting with a group of SNYC staff led by its newly appointed chief executive, Albert Duncan, at the youth organisation’s headquarters in Orion Mall.

The initial aim of the visit was to gain more information about the SNYC, and an update on the youth programmes they plan to put in place.

Honourable Woodcock said it also followed several comments from the public and the young people themselves who have been questioning the function of SNYC.

Many issues were raised regarding SNYC’s work and its future.

“The new CEO has talked about the need to start modernising SNYC; the activities should be geared toward today’s contexts, what is relevant to the youth of today like technology and the internet. We cannot continue with the same old things because youths have now evolved,” said Mr Woodcock.

Furthermore, he stressed on the need to have youth education and capacity-building programmes to help the youth become future leaders, “as that was what MYSCC is focused on”.

Mr Woodcock added that the MYSCC was also looking into its relationship with the youth-based organisation and other partners, to see how it could be reinforced.

Following last week’s meeting, MYSCC said its next move would be to meet with the minister responsible for youth and its principal secretary to discuss the issues that were raised and then take necessary actions.

Seychelles NATION also spoke to the newly appointed chief executive, Mr Duncan, who said he was taking his new role seriously as there was a need for some changes within SNYC and the way it operates.

“We are here to engage and mobilise the youths, give them good programmes, awareness and leadership skills to help them to contribute meaningfully in the society,” he said.

Mr Duncan said the MYSCC’s visit was a fruitful one “because if they want to realign with the SNYC to address the current needs of youths in Seychelles, then frank and honest discussions must take place”.

He said the SNYC’s next course of action is to take the points that were raised and set a timeline to address them, reassess and reevaluate the system which SNYC follows.

Last week’s visit also included a tour of all the offices to engage with the staff.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the meeting and subsequent tour of the offices and interactions with staff.

Diane Larame

Photos by Joena Meme

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