Carib Scope

标签： Dominica

多米尼克

  • New CARICOM initiative to build youth leadership capacity across the Caribbean

    New CARICOM initiative to build youth leadership capacity across the Caribbean

    The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has kicked off a groundbreaking regional capacity-building initiative designed to elevate youth development work across the bloc, with an estimated 180 youth-focused professionals set to gain critical skills over the next 24 months.

    Officially launched in June 2026 under the full title “Strengthening the Youth Development Landscape: A Capacity Building Programme for Strategic and Sustainable Action,” the programme targets youth directors, frontline youth officers, and community youth leaders from all CARICOM member states, according to an official press release from the CARICOM Secretariat.

    Delivered entirely through online platforms to ensure broad accessibility across the geographically scattered Caribbean region, the training curriculum focuses on equipping participants with hands-on, practical expertise to build, run, and maintain high-impact youth-focused initiatives. Core training modules cover a wide range of in-demand skills, including end-to-end project design, compelling grant proposal development, systematic project monitoring and evaluation, adaptive leadership development, mental health first aid for young populations, and strategic use of social media to boost youth engagement.

    The CARICOM Secretariat notes that the new programme was developed in direct response to two key trends shaping the region’s youth sector: rapidly shifting challenges facing Caribbean young people, and rising demand from member states for stronger institutional and professional capacity to address those challenges.

    Michele Small Bartley, the CARICOM Secretariat’s Youth Development Programme Manager, underscored the critical value of investing in the professionals who directly design and deliver youth services across the region. “As youth development issues continue to emerge and become more complex, there is a growing need to equip key youth stakeholders with the knowledge, skills, and practical tools required to design, implement, monitor, and sustain effective programmes and interventions that respond to the needs of our young people,” Bartley explained in the press statement.

    Beyond upskilling individual practitioners, the initiative is also strategically aligned to advance broader regional youth development goals: it supports the rollout of the updated CARICOM Youth Development Action Plan (CYDAP) and the regional Youth Development Index, while working to strengthen the institutional frameworks of youth-serving organizations across all member states.

    Looking ahead, the CARICOM Secretariat outlines a clear long-term vision for the programme: to build a connected, well-resourced network of youth practitioners who have the skills and resources to lead innovative, sustainable youth programmes, and advance a resilient, forward-thinking youth development agenda that meets the evolving needs of Caribbean communities for years to come.

  • Strong UWI presence in inaugural Global Digital Infrastructure Fellowship

    Strong UWI presence in inaugural Global Digital Infrastructure Fellowship

    A major milestone for Caribbean digital development has emerged, as nearly three dozen individuals affiliated with the University of the West Indies (UWI) have been selected for the first-ever Resilient Global Digital Infrastructure (GDI) Fellowship. The achievement cements UWI’s growing reputation as a leading hub for digital innovation across the Caribbean region. Per an official press statement from the university, half of all Caribbean participants selected for the inaugural cohort have formal ties to UWI, a standout result drawn from a pool of hundreds of competitive regional applicants.

    Breaking down the successful selections, 16 are currently part of the UWI community: 10 undergraduate students, three postgraduate students, and three faculty and staff members. An additional four UWI graduates also earned coveted spots in this globally recognized professional development program.

    The Resilient GDI Fellowship is a collaborative initiative led by the SubOptic Foundation, in partnership with industry specialists and academic researchers from the University of California, Berkeley’s Global Digital Infrastructure program. Designed to bridge cross-sector knowledge gaps, the program brings together participants from a wide spectrum of academic and professional fields – including engineering, law, public policy, economics, media, and the social sciences. Over the course of the program, fellows will collaborate to explore frameworks for designing, governing, and reinforcing robust global digital infrastructure that meets long-term future needs.

    A core mission of the initiative is to build specialized local expertise in strategically critical regions like the Caribbean, where consistent, resilient digital connectivity has become an increasingly indispensable asset for social and economic progress. Sandrea Maynard, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Affairs at UWI, emphasized the transformative role of digital infrastructure for the Caribbean.

    “Digital infrastructure is foundational to the future of our region. It underpins teaching and learning, research, innovation, governance, resilience, and economic development,” Maynard said. “UWI’s strong representation in this fellowship reflects both the quality of our people and the importance of investing in the systems and skills that will shape the Caribbean’s digital future.”

    Maynard added that the large contingent of UWI participants in the fellowship underscores the institution’s commitment to ensuring Caribbean voices, knowledge, and perspectives shape global conversations around digital infrastructure planning, digital sovereignty, and equitable sustainable development.

    After engaging with prospective fellows across the Caribbean, Iago Bojczuk, a Research Associate at UC Berkeley, praised the high calibre of regional applicants selected for the cohort. “The enthusiasm and knowledge that the Fellows have brought to the programme so far speak to the immense potential that exists across the Caribbean region,” Bojczuk said. “Their diverse backgrounds and commitment to meaningful connectivity demonstrate what is possible when emerging leaders are empowered to shape the future of global digital infrastructure. Their engagement highlights that resilience must be grounded in equity and sustainability—central pillars of our Global Digital Infrastructure Certificate.”

    Moving forward, the SubOptic Foundation and UC Berkeley GDI program team will guide participating fellows through a structured curriculum that combines targeted skills training, cross-regional collaborative projects, and hands-on applied research. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to strengthen the development of resilient, inclusive, future-ready digital infrastructure systems across the Caribbean and other strategically important regions. UWI closed its announcement by extending formal congratulations to all selected fellows and reaffirming its ongoing commitment to partnering with global institutions to advance Caribbean regional leadership in digital infrastructure, innovation, and technology development.

  • Cultural Division to unveil 2026 Miss Wob Dwiyet contestants on July 1

    Cultural Division to unveil 2026 Miss Wob Dwiyet contestants on July 1

    One of Dominica’s most cherished cultural celebrations is gearing up for its 2026 iteration, with the official countdown to the Miss Wob Dwiyet pageant set to kick off with the public introduction of this year’s competing candidates.

    A recent official press statement from the Cultural Division under Dominica’s Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports and Community Development confirmed that the 2026 delegate reveal will be hosted as a custom-produced online premiere, launching at 6:00 PM local time on Wednesday, July 1, 2026.

    The event, arranged through a partnership between the Cultural Division and the National Cultural Council, will deliver a pre-recorded showcase introducing all five contestants alongside the first public release of their official portraits. Fans across the globe and local audiences will be able to stream the premiere free of charge via the Cultural Division’s official Facebook page, as well as through broadcast and digital platforms of selected local media partners.

    This public unveiling serves as the formal starting line for the 2026 Miss Wob Dwiyet competition, marking the first chance for Dominica’s public to connect with the young women vying for one of the island nation’s most respected and prominent cultural titles.

    Per the Cultural Division, the online reveal format is structured to center the core values that have defined the pageant for decades: the effortless elegance, unshakable confidence, and deep cultural pride that each candidate brings to the competition. It also sets the stage for each delegate’s months-long journey of preparation and community engagement leading up to the final coronation event.

    The months-long competition will conclude on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, when the current titleholder, Miss Wob Dwiyet 2025 ZebadiJah Maxwell, will step down from her role and place the crown on her successor.

    As a long-standing pillar of Dominica’s cultural calendar, the pageant gives contestants a platform to highlight the natural beauty, ancestral heritage, and living traditions that make the island nation unique. For organizers, the competition remains a critical vehicle for preserving and amplifying Dominica’s distinct cultural identity for new generations.

    In closing, the Cultural Division has issued an open invitation to all Dominicans at home and abroad to tune into the online reveal, join in welcoming the 2026 cohort of contestants, and take part in opening a new chapter of celebrating the island’s deep-rooted traditions and the lasting legacy of the iconic Miss Wob Dwiyet Pageant.

  • Thea Lafond Gadson breaks national record with historic triple jump victory in Croatia

    Thea Lafond Gadson breaks national record with historic triple jump victory in Croatia

    Dominican triple jump star and reigning Olympic gold medalist Thea Lafond Gadson has added another landmark achievement to her already storied athletic career, claiming top honors at the World Athletics Continental Tour Golden Meeting in Zagreb, Croatia Friday while rewriting multiple record books. Competing against a field of elite international jumpers, Lafond Gadson delivered her career-defining leap on her sixth and final attempt of the competition, launching herself 15.25 meters to take the win. This stunning distance not only betters the 15.02-meter Dominican national record she set at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, but also clinches the world’s leading jump mark for the current 2026 season and marks a new personal best for the athlete, according to updates shared by Panam Sports via its official Facebook page. Beyond the national and seasonal accolades, the jump also shattered the previous meeting record for the Zagreb WACT Golden event, and pushed Lafond Gadson into an exclusive group: she now ranks among the top 10 women’s triple jump athletes in world history for the longest recorded jumps. As first reported via the Rice Man Facebook page, which shared details of the groundbreaking performance, this latest win solidifies Lafond Gadson’s standing as one of the most formidable triple jump competitors on the global circuit. More than a personal victory, the historic leap marks another high-profile moment of pride for the small Caribbean nation of Dominica, which continues to see its name elevated on the international athletics stage thanks to Lafond Gadson’s consistent, world-class performances.

  • COMMENTARY: A PHONE, A JAR OF SEASONING, AND 400,000 VIEWS – How Caribbean vendors are taking on the supermarkets, one TikTok at a time

    COMMENTARY: A PHONE, A JAR OF SEASONING, AND 400,000 VIEWS – How Caribbean vendors are taking on the supermarkets, one TikTok at a time

    It started with a simple, unplanned clip: a Barbadian spice seller propped her smartphone against a glass jar on her cluttered kitchen counter, walked viewers through her signature fish seasoning blend, and hit upload. Three days later, that unpolished home video had racked up 400,000 organic views. No professional film crew, no marketing agency, no six-figure advertising budget – reach that even a major regional supermarket chain could not purchase with a million-dollar promotional campaign.

    This quiet viral success is not an isolated accident. It is part of a growing movement reshaping small business across the Caribbean, where decades-old market stall vendors are leveraging TikTok to level the playing field against multinational grocery chains that have squeezed small independent sellers out of local markets in recent years.

    To unpack this unexpected trend, Guyanese-American PhD candidate Roy Naipaul spent months conducting on-the-ground interviews with vendors across the Caribbean region. Working alongside his doctoral supervisor Dr. Abdallah Elias at the International Executive School in Strasbourg, France, Naipaul set out to answer a deceptively simple question: how do cash-strapped small vendors, with no corporate backing or formal marketing budget, not just survive but grow their customer bases in the face of well-resourced retail giants? What he uncovered was not a sophisticated corporate marketing playbook, but a grassroots, community-driven model built one unscripted video at a time.

    The strategy that has worked for these vendors is stubbornly simple, and defies traditional marketing logic. Budget size barely moves the needle on TikTok; what determines reach is whether viewers stay to watch an entire video. Multiple vendors described the same unwritten rule of the platform: audiences, not advertising dollars, decide which content gets amplified. The result? A single vendor with a $500 smartphone can reach just as many potential customers as a large chain with a marketing team 20 times the size of the vendor’s entire business.

    The most surprising twist in Naipaul’s research is that their competitive advantage comes from what the corporate world would see as a weakness: their lack of professional polish. A doubles vendor in Trinidad found that chatting to the camera like she would chat to a regular customer while mixing her signature Indo-Caribbean dough generated far more audience engagement than any slickly produced supermarket advertisement. Customers do not want overproduced corporate content, she explained; they want to connect with real people. TikTok has upended traditional marketing rules by turning everyday creators into their brand’s most powerful advocates, with authenticity spreading organically through word-of-mouth, organic shares, clicks and views.

    Vendors have intentionally leaned into characteristics that were once seen as disadvantages for mainstream marketing: thick regional accents, messy home cooking spaces, generations-old family recipes, and local creole dialects. A vendor in St. Lucia intentionally films in Kwéyòl, instantly signaling to viewers that she is a member of the local community. A Jamaican vendor calls out loyal customers by name mid-video – for example, noting she has set aside a batch of a customer’s favorite mangoes – and watches that personal touch drive shares across local social media groups.

    The reach of these videos has extended far beyond Caribbean islands, exceeding even the vendors’ wildest expectations. Diaspora communities in New York, Toronto, and London have stumbled on the clips, flooding comments with nostalgia for home cooking and placing orders for specialty seasonings to be shipped internationally. Street markets that once only served customers within a few square miles now boast a global customer base.

    None of these vendors had a formal guide to social media success. They learned through trial and error: posting multiple cuts of the same video, tracking which gained traction, and replicating the tactics that worked.

    What stood out most to Naipaul was not one viral trick, but a repeating pattern that held across every interview: a vendor’s genuine authenticity draws viewers in, longer watch times signal to TikTok’s algorithm that the content is valuable, the algorithm pushes the video to more users, and those new viewers turn into repeat customers who follow for future content. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle: the more a vendor embraces what makes them uniquely themselves, the more their visibility grows, which in turn strengthens the personal community relationships that make the content popular in the first place.

    While the organic algorithm that rewards engagement has let small vendors compete with large chains, it also carries a major, unresolvable risk. Every one of these small business owners has built their new customer base on a platform they do not control and cannot influence. A single unannounced change to TikTok’s algorithm, made to serve the platform’s own corporate goals unrelated to Caribbean small vendors, could bury their content under the same corporate marketing they have been outperforming, with no warning and no process to appeal the change. The open accessibility that let these vendors break into the global market could just as easily close the door on them, with no input from the vendors themselves.

    Naipaul’s research also points to a new model for supporting small vendors that runs counter to common economic development advice. These vendors did not need paid social media training – they taught themselves, quickly and for free, by sharing tips and learning from each other’s successes. Pressuring them to adopt corporate marketing practices would backfire, because it would strip away the exact quality that makes their content work: its unapologetically non-corporate, personal feel.

    For now, the story of Caribbean TikTok vendors is an unlikely underdog success. Small independent sellers are not just surviving the era of big-box supermarkets – in corners of social media, they are thriving, one unpolished video filmed with a phone propped against a spice jar at a time. Whether this momentum will last remains an open question, and it is one these vendors cannot answer on their own.

  • Electoral Office issues June 2026 update on electors list

    Electoral Office issues June 2026 update on electors list

    As Dominica works to overhaul its electoral framework ahead of the October 2026 voter registration deadline, the island nation’s Electoral Office has reported a dramatic acceleration in voter confirmation and new registration processes, according to an official update published June 23, 2026.

    Over the course of the ongoing initiative, the Electoral Office has granted final approval to 17,332 existing voter confirmations and 1,174 new voter registrations. In total, the body received 19,060 confirmation submissions and 1,474 new registration applications across the current reporting cycle. The latest numbers mark a sharp upward trend from earlier spring months, reflecting growing public participation and streamlined administrative workflows. Back in mid-May, only 8,597 confirmations had been approved; that figure crossed 11,000 by the end of May and has now surged past 17,300 in June. Approvals for new registrations have followed a similar steady upward trajectory, rising from 829 in mid-May to more than 1,100 by the end of June.

    Chief Electoral Officer Anthea Joseph outlined that the ongoing voter roll update is a core component of a wider national campaign to modernize and validate Dominica’s central voter database. By cross-checking records of existing voters and adding eligible new voters, the government aims to deliver a fully accurate, up-to-date electoral roll ahead of upcoming national elections. To support the implementation of these critical reforms, the Dominica government has partnered with regional governance bodies, including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which have provided technical and advisory support to strengthen electoral administrative processes and rebuild public trust in the integrity of the island’s electoral system.

    Despite the progress on voter registration reform, public discourse continues around the structure of the Electoral Commission itself. Key political and civil society stakeholders, including prominent figure Gregor Nassief, have reiterated calls for full institutional restructuring of the commission to boost transparency and address long-standing public concerns over electoral governance. The Electoral Office has moved to increase openness around its work by releasing regular, periodic updates and publishing full lists of confirmed voters, with the most recent prior release covering registration activity between April 1 and April 30, 2026.

    Analysts of Dominica’s electoral process note that the June 2026 update carries multiple layers of significance for the island’s reform agenda. The sharp jump in approved applications points to tangible improvements in the efficiency of voter verification workflows, while the corresponding rise in total applications submitted signals growing public awareness and engagement as the October 2026 deadline draws near. The Electoral Office’s commitment to regular public disclosure of confirmed voter rolls further underscores its pledge to uphold transparency throughout the electoral modernization process, as Dominica continues to implement changes designed to strengthen its democratic institutions.

  • Dominica Football Association appoints Clem Bruno as Facilities Supervisor for Stockfarm

    Dominica Football Association appoints Clem Bruno as Facilities Supervisor for Stockfarm

    The Dominica Football Association (DFA) has made a key leadership appointment for its core training hub, announcing via an official Facebook post that Clem Bruno will take up the role of Facilities Supervisor at the DFA Technical Centre located in Stock Farm.

    Bruno comes to the national football governing body with a unique professional background, having previously served as a police officer. Across his decades-long career, he has built up a robust skill set centered on strategic leadership, systematic organizational coordination, and end-to-end operational management — capabilities the DFA says align perfectly with the needs of the technical centre role.

    In his new position, Bruno will carry full responsibility for steering all day-to-day activities at the Stock Farm facility, from coordinating regular upkeep and repair work to addressing operational needs as they arise. A core priority of his role will be upholding the facility’s standards to ensure it remains a secure, smoothly run, and professional space for all users and stakeholders, from national team players and youth development program participants to coaching staff and visiting football delegations.

    The DFA closed its announcement with an official welcome, expressing confidence that Bruno’s professional experience will bring valuable improvements to facility management, and that he will make meaningful contributions to the ongoing development of the association’s football infrastructure across the country.

  • Caribbean climate-smart farming project trains 49 farmers and agricultural officers in St. Vincent

    Caribbean climate-smart farming project trains 49 farmers and agricultural officers in St. Vincent

    As climate change continues to intensify threats to Caribbean agricultural systems, a regional initiative centered on improving soil health and building climate resilience is rolling out targeted training to farming communities across St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Forty-nine local farmers and agricultural technical officers have recently graduated from the first round of hands-on training organized under the ADOPT Caribbean – Soil Health for Climate Resilient Agriculture project, a program designed to embed sustainable production practices and boost the agricultural sector’s ability to withstand climate shocks. The initiative is led by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in collaboration with a network of national and regional partners, with a current focus on expanding outreach and support to small-scale farming communities in the northeast of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

    Unlike traditional theoretical-only training programs, the recent ADOPT Caribbean sessions blended structured classroom learning with immersive field-based practice to ensure participants gained both foundational knowledge and actionable, on-the-ground experience. As part of the program’s initial assessment work, technical teams collected soil samples from two key local districts—Langley Park and Orange Hill—to generate baseline data that will inform evidence-based soil management strategies for the region moving forward. Specialized training for technical officers was delivered by leading industry experts: Ronen Francis from the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Landscape Management (PISLM) and Chaney St. Martin, IICA’s International Specialist in Water and Soil Management. Course content focused heavily on evidence-based soil health improvement techniques and the development of dedicated demonstration plots that will serve as living examples of climate-smart agriculture for local producers.

    Local farmers also participated in hands-on practical workshops led by St. Martin, with support from IICA’s in-country Technical Specialist Michael Dalton and project consultant Michael Delpeche. The training curriculum covered the full cycle of crop production, from initial land preparation and optimized planting methods to ongoing crop maintenance and climate-adapted harvesting practices. According to Dalton, the program is already filling a critical gap by building specialized, context-relevant skills for both local producers and agricultural support professionals.

    “ADOPT Caribbean provides an important platform for capacity building for farmers and agricultural technicians,” Dalton explained in an official IICA press statement. “We have been able to expose our local technical team to key considerations for experimental plot establishment and provided information for our farmers which gives a sound basis for their operations on their farms. We intend to further advance our interventions through forums such as these for stakeholders, with the intention to promote such practices across the country.”

    Looking ahead, the next phase of the project will focus on establishing permanent demonstration plots across St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where local farmers can observe climate-smart farming techniques in action and learn how to adapt these methods to their own smallholdings. Beyond St. Vincent and the Grenadines, ADOPT Caribbean is also active in Guyana and Jamaica, forming part of a broader regional push to improve regional soil health, cut greenhouse gas emissions originating from agricultural activity, and scale up climate resilience across the Caribbean agricultural sector.

    The initiative receives funding through the New Zealand Government’s Climate Smart Agriculture Initiative (NZCSA-LAC), which is New Zealand’s official contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA). All project funding is administered through the Ag Emissions Centre. Looking forward, IICA has confirmed that the project will continue to support farmers and agricultural stakeholders across all three participating countries, with a long-term goal of mainstreaming sustainable farming practices that strengthen regional food security while preserving critical natural ecosystems.

  • Antigua and Barbuda launches OECS’ first youth mental health chatline

    Antigua and Barbuda launches OECS’ first youth mental health chatline

    A landmark new mental health support platform tailored for children and young people has officially launched in Antigua and Barbuda, marking a historic first for mental health access across the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Named the Young Caribbean Minds (YCM) Chatline, this service is the region’s first free, anonymous text-based platform that integrates both mental health support and child protection resources.

    The initiative is the product of a cross-sector collaborative partnership between the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, UNICEF, the University of the West Indies (UWI), the OECS Commission, and the Zenith Centre. Its dual mission is to deliver confidential psychosocial support to young people while creating a clear pathway to connect vulnerable children to formal child protection services when risk is identified.

    The development of both the chatline and Antigua and Barbuda’s upcoming Mental Health Care Bill 2026 was directly informed by the largest youth mental health consultation ever held in the Eastern Caribbean. Over 1,000 children and young people contributed their perspectives through surveys, focus groups, and national dialogues, making this the first documented effort in the Caribbean to center youth input directly in shaping national mental health legislation.

    The consultation’s findings are published in the *Youth Voices: Mental Health Care Bill Survey Report*, which captures feedback from respondents aged 10 to 19. Key results revealed that stigma remains the single largest barrier to youth accessing mental health care: 34.2% of respondents reported fear of judgment stopped them from seeking help. More than half of participants called for stronger safeguarding provisions in the new legislation, while nearly 90% expressed support for the bill’s rights-centered framework. Privacy was ranked the top factor for building trust in mental health services, and text-based online chat was identified as the second most preferred method of accessing support.

    UNICEF confirmed that these insights directly shaped the design of the YCM Chatline. The platform operates through real-time text support delivered by trained UWI volunteers, who work under the continuous supervision of licensed professional psychologists. A core feature of the service is full anonymity: users can access support without sharing any personal identifiable information, while an integrated referral system automatically connects children flagged as at-risk to appropriate child protection authorities.

    At the launch ceremony, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne framed access to mental health care as a fundamental human right, drawing on personal experience to explain his long-standing advocacy for expanded mental health services across the country and the broader Caribbean region.

    “I have been an advocate of mental health care for everyone as a fundamental right,” Browne stated. “I’ve advocated here in Antigua and Barbuda, within the region, the OECS and the United Nations, and I’m very happy to be participating in this programme, which has mental health at its epicentre.”

    Addressing the persistent stigma surrounding mental illness, Browne shared, “Unfortunately, the issue of mental health has been stigmatized globally. The reason why I’m so committed to this issue is personal. Many of you may not be aware that I grew up in a single-parent home with a mentally ill mother… many times there was a crisis that could not be addressed, which made it very difficult for me and my siblings.”

    Maryam Abdu, Acting UNICEF Representative for the Eastern Caribbean Area Office, called the launch a transformative milestone in expanding safe, confidential youth mental health access across the region.

    “Today we reaffirm our commitment to every young person in the Caribbean: your voice matters, your feelings matter, and help is available,” Abdu said. “The Young Caribbean Minds Chatline provides a free, confidential, and accessible space so no child has to struggle alone.”

    Abdu emphasized that the project reflects the Caribbean region’s commitment to centering youth needs in policy and service design: “Our region has shown the courage to listen—now we are responding. By expanding this Chatline across Eastern Caribbean member states and offering bilingual support, we are ensuring that support is truly inclusive and reaches the young people who need it most.”

    She added that the initiative goes far beyond adding a new support service: “Young Caribbean Minds is more than a service—it is a promise. Built with young people’s voices and guided by local partnerships, this initiative strengthens resilience, protects children and gives families and communities the tools to help every child thrive.”

    Dr. Camille Samuel, Registrar at UWI’s Five Islands Campus, highlighted the university’s role in training the chatline’s volunteer support team. “Seeing our Five Islands students step forward as volunteer chat supporters fills me with pride,” she said. “Their year-long training will build a community of empathetic, skilled peers who can change lives.”

    The full public launch follows a successful five-month pilot program that delivered more than 1,000 support sessions, with 88% of pilot users reporting they would use the service again. The initiative has already earned international acclaim: it was recognized as a global best practice at the Global Conference on Child and Adolescent Mental Health in South Africa, and placed as a top three finalist in the UNICEF Global INSPIRE Awards out of more than 300 global submissions.

    The official launch ceremony brought together a broad coalition of stakeholders, including Prime Minister Browne, Minister of Health, Wellness, the Environment and Civil Service Affairs Michael Joseph, Minister of Social Transformation Kiz Johnson, senior government leaders, development partners, civil society representatives, and youth delegates. Representatives from Antigua and Barbuda’s National Student Council and National Youth Parliament Association also addressed the gathering, praising the government’s commitment to expanded mental health services and calling for sustained youth inclusion in future policymaking.

    The YCM Chatline received formal endorsement from OECS Health Ministers during the OECS Health Policy Forum in April 2025, and is being developed as a regional resource for all nine OECS member states. After this initial soft launch in Antigua and Barbuda, volunteer training and platform refinement will continue ahead of a phased rollout across the country and the broader Eastern Caribbean. The expansion of the initiative is set to be a key topic of discussion at the Second OECS Council of Ministers on Youth and Sports, which will be hosted by Antigua and Barbuda on August 12 and 13, 2026.

  • Joann Green’s candidacy in Roseau North by-election in doubt, says UPP leader

    Joann Green’s candidacy in Roseau North by-election in doubt, says UPP leader

    As the Caribbean region awaits an upcoming by-election for the Roseau North Constituency, the United Progressive Party (UPP) remains non-committal on whether community leader Joann Green will stand as the party’s official candidate, according to UPP Political Leader and Attorney Joshua Francis.

    Francis shared that Green has wasted no time building connections with local voters since taking on the role of the constituency’s caretaker for the UPP. Over recent weeks, she has maintained a consistent presence on the ground, holding one-on-one meetings with constituents, attending local neighborhood gatherings, and taking part in a range of community-led initiatives across Roseau North. Her on-the-ground engagement has already laid preliminary groundwork for a potential campaign, but no final approval has been given by party leadership.

    The path to a final decision is tied to a number of moving political variables, Francis emphasized. One of the most critical outstanding pieces of information is the official timeline for the contest: the UPP is still waiting for a formal announcement from the sitting Prime Minister confirming the exact date the by-election will be held. Without this key detail locked in, the party cannot move forward with cementing its candidate plans.

    Beyond the election timeline, Francis also disclosed that the UPP has been holding ongoing strategic discussions with other opposition political parties across the nation. These talks are focused on coordinating opposition strategy for the by-election, and the final outcome of these negotiations will heavily influence whether Green officially appears on the ballot as the UPP’s representative. For now, the party is keeping all options open as it navigates these pre-election political negotiations.