May we offer to each and every one of you the warmest greetings and wishes for a peaceful and happy Christmas. Following a year of manifestations, the National Youth Council prides itself on accomplishing much of what it set out to achieve throughout 2021.
This last year has been a challenging one and for some more than others. Despite the continued persistence of challenges, NYCD’s key priorities of advocacy, institutional framework strengthening, and networking have gathered pace and visibility.
The NYCD Executive was installed on January 23rd, 2021 and throughout this past year its President, Ashma McDougall sought to lead the Council in a revitalization project across re-branding, institutional framework strengthening, increasing, and diversifying its project scope, and networking with youth groups – all of which have been dubbed successful.
“Our first year has not gone by without challenges, though we have achieved much of what we sought to accomplish through 2021, the success was not met without obstacles. In our first quarter, we kicked things off with a revitalization strategy in efforts to draw much attention to the Council – through social media, project identification, increased communication with youth organizations, and most importantly youth outreach.”
“Youth across the world welcome 2022, with our hopes for the future being tested by deepening poverty and worsening inequality, by ongoing conflict, division, and misinformation”, McDougall lamented.
Therefore, our response to the pandemic has to be bold, McDougall hopes to start 2022 with a few keywords and phrases in mind – breaking barriers, challenge, and unity. “I wish to share a few key phrases throughout the coming year – the first is breaking barriers. This year, our country needs young people to keep speaking out, thinking big, pushing boundaries, and keeping up the pressure. We cannot afford to be the generation that fiddles.
Youth entrepreneurship can play an important role in addressing youth exclusion while strengthening income generation and reducing youth unemployment. Second, “challenge.” As mentioned, the world is changing, or rather, evolving rapidly. Let us see the trend of this new normal as an opportunity and take on fresh challenges in new value creation as well as personal and professional improvement.
People tend to think about the risk of failure when taking on challenges, but today, not taking on challenges itself is a risk. Do not use the lack of experience as an excuse. If we remain where we are, nothing can be created. Nothing will change. In aiming for our vision, it is all about understanding what we lack, finding ways to get them, and putting them into practice. In addition to taking on your individual challenges, be sure to support the challenges of the other members around you.
Lastly unity – we have heard this tossed around by many of our own leaders – religious, political, community however the youth have not seen this executed or realized.
Moments of great difficulty are also moments of great opportunity to come together in solidarity” and we have recognized great division across the pandemic response, project development, and most importantly country growth. Let 2022 offer the chance “to unite behind solutions that can benefit all Dominicans.
And to move forward together, with hope in what we can accomplish.” In ending this New Year’s greeting, the Executive would like to send our regards to everyone who has been affected by COVID-19 as well as their families. At the same time, we wish that 2022 will be a wonderful year for everyone and the NYCD, through everyone taking proper measures against the pandemic. The NYCD wishes you a New Year of hope, promise, and fulfillment.
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