Antigua and Barbuda emerged as the winner of the Best Project Competition organized by the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (ES-CICAD).
The competition was part of the 2nd Caribbean Youth Forum on Drug Use Prevention held in the Bahamas from July 31 to August 4. Out of the 13 participating countries, Antigua and Barbuda’s proposal, Dekryption, stood out and was shortlisted from 15 to 6 teams.
The three-member delegation consisted of CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Esquire Henry and Pia Nichols and Aaron Gittens, a member of the National Youth Volunteer Corps.
Dekryption is a club aimed at young people aged 11 to 14 years old, providing them with a safe space to develop life skills and build psychosocial competence and mental fortitude.
During the competition, each team was given five minutes to present their strategic proposal to tackle substance use in schools. Gittens presented the assumptions, timeline, risks, recruitment and engagement strategies, and funding requirements concisely.
Henry emphasized that the success of the initiative relies on the collaboration of various stakeholders, including the Organisation of American States (OAS), which established CICAD, the Department of Youth Affairs, National Youth Volunteer Corps, Family and Social Service Division, and Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP).
After the impressive presentations from Jamaica, Suriname, Barbados, Grenada, and Dominica, only three spots were available. Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, and Suriname were announced as the winners, in that order.
Nichols, Henry, and Gittens expressed gratitude to the Department of Youth Affairs for their guidance and are looking forward to launching the project in the coming months.
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