GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas – The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (MYSC) is again setting the pace in equipping youth leaders with the latest tools, techniques and methods necessary to mentor today’s youth.
Forty participants are enrolled in the MYSC’s 2025 Bahamas Youth Leader Certification Programme designed to train, expose and sharpen the skills of existing and emerging youth leaders in Grand Bahama.
Orientation for the Programme, which is facilitated by the Ministry’s Youth Division, was held on February 22, 2025 at the Foster B. Pestaina Centre.
The two-hour classes are free, open to the public and offered once per week for 14 weeks at the COLLAB Centre.
MYSC advisor Carla Brown-Roker explained that the Programme has 12 modules and include positive youth development, adolescent development, leadership styles, best practices, effective communication, counseling and child abuse issues.
The other components will address substance abuse, strategies for mediating and resolving conflict, mental health issues, coping with stress and embracing technology, including AI and Chat GPT.
“Our 14th week is when we put together group projects. We look at having learnt all of these other aspects of youth development, we then ask them to apply them in group projects that they present,” Brown-Roker said.
The trainers for this year’s first cohort are Lieutenant Robert Rolle, Sr., the former commandant of the Boys Brigade, Sonia Williams, Commandant for the Girls Brigade and Sergeant #2872 Crayanna Rolle, president of Little Miss Glitz Bahamas, a local beauty, talent and confident pageant, who brought brief remarks during orientation.
Sergeant Rolle encouraged the new cohort of youth leaders to embrace their role in shaping future generations and challenged them to recall someone who made the biggest impact on their life and imagine being that person for someone else.
Lieutenant Rose explained that being a good youth leader comes from within and takes a special breed of individuals who are patient, focused, approachable, inspiring and can also be disciplinarians.
The programme is offered twice a year and the participants, once successfully completing the assessment process, receive national certification which is recognized throughout the region.
