PROGRAMME & OUTCOME

Responses from participants involved in the event

The following are some of the responses from participants to an evaluation form that was distributed.

Question 1. What were the three main benefits of this meeting for you personally and for your work with youth in the future (please provide as much detail as possible)

Geraldine Ong, Singapore
Firstly, from the meeting, I learnt the value of interaction between the different communities of the world although there was a language barrier at the forum due to people speaking French as well. However, this was overcome through gestures like a smile or even food at the dinner table whereby a common language was shared in the simple passing of plates from one person to another.

Of course, it was all about the interaction and I learnt that there was more to interaction than spoken language. This lesson was brought home in the sense that I can now try to conduct youth activities involving the visually handicapped and the hearing impaired without major barriers in the understanding of language.

Secondly, I learnt a lot from the issues discussed at the forum as well as how to draft a declaration and implement good projects. I can transmit this know-how to the youths in my country so they can be more involved in the government in youth-initiated campaigns and activities as everyone deserves a right to be educated.

Thirdly, I became more aware of the differences between people from the other side of the globe (i.e. the Caribbean) as compared to the lifestyles of the people from the South China Sea (my part of the globe where I reside). I was able to learn more about their various cultures and become good friends with a few people there to whom I still keep in contact with. This would enable me to promote cultural exchanges between people of that region and our region so as to broaden young people's knowledge about the world.

Loureno Andrade, Cape Verde
Les trois bénéfices qui j´ai tiré de cette rencontre sont :
1. l´opportunité de faire la connaissance de tous les participants. D´établir des échanges et de partager les expériences et des idées si riches et si importantes.

2. J´ai reconnaître que les idées qui je croyais particulières et banales étaient finalement des valeurs et idées partagées par presque tous les participants.

3. J´ai grandi un peu plus au niveau de la connaissance (histoire, culture et vie), de presque toutes les îles.

Akeiro Lloyd, Bahamas
1. This meeting allowed me the opportunity to interact with other young people so as to enhance and diversify my knowledge on sustainable development i.e. I consider myself to be more equipped to inform youth back in my country about, not only, ongoing activities in my country, but also about methods other SIDS use to promote sustainable development.

Furthermore, I can say that interacting with other youth, and noticing their passion and zeal for environmental conservation has sparked a plug of interest within me and has motivated me to be more environmentally friendly.

Also, it appears if I am having second thoughts about my career choice. Currently, I am studying civil engineering, but I am considering of switching to environmental engineering and this is something that had never crossed my mind until this meeting.

2. It is my belief that this meeting has also given me the opportunity to gain various project ideas. For example, one of the working groups that I was in came up with the idea of a Junior Environmental Ambassador (JEA) Program which would be dedicated to moulding the youth, from a very young age, into environmentalists so that as they grow, they would be aware of the many problems surrounding environmental destruction. This to me was a very good project proposal and I am considering possible implementation of this project.

3. To my surprise, this meeting has (somehow) made me more appreciative of my own culture. Being able to experience such a culture which is contrasting to my own, has helped me to realize how much I enjoy my native foods and dances.

Also, being able to see some of the people around Port Louis has opened my eyes to God's blessings on me. I am much more thankful for what I have and I don't take things and privileges for granted anymore.

Bezaka Harivelo Gihane, Madagascar
1- après cette rencontre, j'ai eu la possibilité de me mettre en contact avec des jeunes dans les autres îles, on a pu partager notre expérience dans la vie...

2- j'ai eu la possibilité d'obtenir beaucoup d'informations concernant les autres îles, dans le monde( leur culture, leur style de vie)

3- savoir les problèmes des jeunes dans chaque pays, partager avec eux les différents problèmes et trouver ensemble des solutions, pour remedier à la situation. ainsi, on a pu obtenir des informations sur , comment faire pour mettre en place un projet.

Karlos Bonilla, Dominican Republic
Personally:
1. I had the opportunity of knowing youth from other culture, share the experience that I´ve acquired in my country and learn from them. I also learned that no matter how far or how different are all of the islands, we have similar needs, so we can work as a big team, helping each other from a distance.

Work with youth:
2. I think that the main benefit is that we have now the structure of our project. Before the meeting we had some ideas and printed them into a draft, but now we have enriched our ideas and we have also an organized structure.

3. In addition, we know we have the support and the answers (or the guidelines) for every question relative to our project(s). Now we won´t only receive help from local related institutions, we can count on the knowledge base created by other youth who had probably the same success and difficulties in similar projects.