KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a landmark move to embed youth leadership in child rights advocacy across the country, UNICEF Jamaica has inaugurated a fresh cohort of 17 members to its Children and Youth Council (CYC), an initiative designed to guarantee that young Jamaicans from all walks of life gain a tangible, influential seat at the table when decisions impacting their futures are made.
Unlike many youth engagement bodies that draw representation primarily from densely populated urban hubs, this new council boasts geographic inclusivity spanning 10 of Jamaica’s parishes, ensuring that the diverse lived experiences of young people from rural, coastal, and suburban communities are all reflected in the council’s work. UNICEF Jamaica emphasized that this broad geographic spread is no accident—it is a deliberate priority to extend youth advocacy and leadership beyond capital city centers and reach marginalized young communities across the island.
The selection of the 17 final members followed a rigorous, multi-stage screening process that drew more than 250 applications from young people across Jamaica. After initial vetting, roughly 50 candidates advanced to the final interview round. The overwhelming majority of applicants fell between the ages of 16 and 20, with most clustered between 17 and 19—an age group marked by the emergence of civic identity and early leadership, making it an ideal pool to cultivate the next generation of advocates. Final selections were based on three core criteria: proven leadership potential, existing track records of community involvement, and alignment with UNICEF’s global mission of advancing child rights.
In an official statement released Tuesday welcoming the incoming cohort, Olga Isaza, UNICEF’s representative to Jamaica, framed the council as a critical shift in how child-focused work is designed. “Young people are powerful agents of change,” Isaza said. “The UNICEF Children and Youth Council was created to place them at the centre of advocacy, programme design and policy dialogue, strengthening their role as key partners in advancing child rights and ensuring that their ideas, experiences and leadership help shape the programmes and policies designed to support them.”
Beyond their core advocacy work, the new CYC members will also take on the role of steering committee for U-Report Jamaica, UNICEF’s youth-focused digital engagement platform that amplifies young Jamaicans’ perspectives on pressing social issues. This dual role will allow the council to connect directly with thousands of peer youth across the island, ensuring their input feeds into CYC priorities.
The CYC has three core overarching objectives. First, it will ensure that the lived experiences and unique perspectives of children and youth directly shape UNICEF Jamaica’s programming and national-level advocacy work. Second, it will provide a formal channel for young people to represent the needs of their peers, while building their own leadership and advocacy skills through hands-on work. Third, it will create structured mechanisms for youth participation in strategic planning, public awareness campaigns, and evidence-based policy recommendations to national policymakers.
To organize its work, the council will be divided into specialized sub-groups aligned with UNICEF Jamaica’s core program priorities, including child protection, climate action and community resilience, education, social policy, and public health. All sub-groups operate under the guiding framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, with the goal of ensuring youth perspectives inform solutions at the local, national, and even global levels.
As the new council begins its term, UNICEF Jamaica expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration ahead, noting that the initiative represents a long-term investment in empowering the next generation of Jamaican leaders and advocates, while advancing the core mission of child rights across every region of the country.