National Assembly |19 April 2023
Minister for Youth, Sports and Family outlines youth policy and family business project
The Minister for Youth, Sports and Family has said the National Youth Policy is currently being revised to ensure it remains relevant.
Minister Marie-Celine Zialor was answering a question in the National Assembly yesterday morning brought by the elected member for Plaisance from the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) party, Richard Labrosse, who was enquiring about what has been done so far to review the policy to ensure it reflects today’s world.
Minister Zialor said the government was very serious about this revision “because we cannot just talk about how young people are the country’s future but we need to raise the level of all projects, all programmes, all activities and in this case the policy that will define principles and guide the youth strategy for the country”.
She told the National Assembly that to date there has been a great improvement in the way youth activities and programmers are being conducted, making reference to the recent election of the new youth assembly conducted by the Seychelles National Youth Council and recent regular visits to State House by a group of young people who have performed well in their studies.
“It is in the same line that work on the new policy is being done,” stated Minister Zialor, who was accompanied by the principal secretary for Youth and Sports, Ralph Jean-Louis, and chief executive of the Seychelles National Youth Council, Albert Duncan.
The last National Youth Policy dates back to 2018 and the document is expected to be revised every five years.
Minister Zialor also informed the National Assembly that the plan to encourage the creation of family business and cooperative for the elderly and people with disabilities, which was shelved in 2021, is expected to resume this year.
She was replying to a question brought by the elected LDS member for Mont Buxton, Gervais Henrie, who wanted to know what progress had been made with regard to the project.
Minister Zialor explained that the project conceived in 2021 in partnership with the Ministry of Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry as well as the local government department, did not make any significant progress because priorities change based on the needs for 2021 and 2022.
“The Family department had to focus on other services such as counselling. The Family department also had to work on other projects such as Home Care Act and the infrastructure project such as old people’s home,” explained the minister.
She added that the project which was shelved for two years will now kick start in 2023 and a meeting has already been held with the tourism department “to see the possibility of starting with some cultural tourism projects since tourism is the pillar of our economy”.
The minister, who was accompanied by the principal secretary for Family, Clive Roucou, explained that they plan to start with two groups; namely a group of young people and one comprising the elderly.