Social Impact with Emma » youth empowerment : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

Youth Activism Is Alive and Well – If Given the Chance

May 16th, 2019

Our Jamaican youth often get a “bad rap.” Many Jamaicans believe they are lazy and self-centered. Millennials, in particular (slightly older) are seen as shallow and obsessed with material things. Jamaican adults often put young people down; between the ages of twelve and twenty-five, say, they are not entitled to express an opinion or have a seat […]

Twitter Thoughts, Part 1: The Generation Gap

April 24th, 2017

Twitter is an endless source of fascinating facts, observations and discussions for me. Because tweets have to be kept short, there is no propensity among my fellow tweeters for rambling and ranting. My experience with Facebook has been very different. I am always careful not to get involved in lengthy discussions on a) religion b) […]

RISE and the EU: A Partnership to Strengthen Civil Society

March 27th, 2017

On International Women’s Day, I was happy to see a lineup of four women at the head table for a workshop on the Civil Society Boost Initiative (Strategies and Tools for CSO Sustainability). At the opening ceremony, the partnership in this initiative was represented by Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Jamaica, Ambassador […]

Mentoring Our Vulnerable Boys: Not a Walk in the Park

July 6th, 2016

Have you ever considered mentoring? What are the pitfalls, and what are the rewards? Panos Caribbean enlisted the expertise of Claudette Richardson Pious, Executive Director of the Children First Agency in Spanish Town, to put prospective mentors through their paces at a recent workshop. Ms. Richardson Pious knows the challenges our young people face only […]

The Impact of “Edu-Drama”: It’s the Human Connection That Counts

February 7th, 2016

We know. In our search to create a more just, equitable and simply livable society, we have to continually find different, innovative ways of getting important messages across – especially to our youth. One of the ways is storytelling, a tradition embedded in the Jamaican psyche. It seems to be undergoing a kind of revival […]