By Kisean Joseph
Youth and humanitarian advocate Joshuanette Francis returned from Barbados with a renewed vision for climate action after participating in the Caribbean Youth Environment Network’s (CYEN) third international study and training session for young leaders last week.
The three-day workshop, held from November 26-28, brought together youth representatives from across the Caribbean, including Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Grenada, and Belize, to discuss how young leaders can shape the region’s environmental future.
“Young leaders need to be radical,” Francis said. “Not radical as in we’re going to go curse, but whatever we believe in, we must be willing to put in the work to get it done. We must not be weary because anybody who’s an advocate knows it can become very exhausting.”
The workshop highlighted the urgent environmental challenges facing Caribbean nations. Francis described how participants shared their local experiences with climate change impacts. “The person from Jamaica mentioned that there’s a part in Jamaica that’s sinking, and while it might not sink overnight, there might be 50 years from now where it’s not there anymore, and that is because the sea levels keep rising,” she said.
Recent extreme weather events underscored the immediacy of these challenges. “The young lady from Grenada would have mentioned that Grenada is experiencing a rebuild. They just experienced a hurricane, and now individuals have been put out of their homes and lives have been changed,” Francis reported.
As founding president of Good Humans 268 in Antigua, Francis plans to implement lessons from the workshop through expanded youth engagement and regional collaboration. Her organization is preparing to launch new initiatives in January, including educational outreach through school notice boards and social media platforms.
“We’re going to be doing a bit more on our social media platforms, and we’re going to be asking schools for a wall,” Francis said. “We’re going to be able to go weekly and put something on that wall: educational, informative, and a call to action to see if we can get more youth involved.”
Francis emphasized the importance of connecting young people with environmental organizations that match their interests. “A lot of NGOs are doing things that the youth don’t know about,” she said. “We have to create that space where they can go and get that knowledge.”
The organization’s president shared: “We started at one school and four bins. And what we had was an idea, and we developed that idea; no idea is too small. Nobody is too small.”
Francis advocates for educational reform that incorporates environmental awareness and life skills alongside traditional academics. “I’m hoping that in the next few years, I see a change in the curriculum,” she said. “I want them to learn emotional intelligence, financial literacy, and life skills that are truly going to make them great leaders.”
“Antigua, ah for arwe. We have to protect it and we have to do things to ensure that our children and their children and their children have an island to live on. Nobody put us here; we’re just here, so we have to protect what’s ours.” Francis said.
