Country Profile
Saint Lucia
Days
participants
road safety projects implemented
VYBZING Forum Saint Lucia – equipping youth to take road safety action!
One of our first experiences in working with Caribbean youth was the incredible VYBZING Forum initiated by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in Saint Lucia. VYBZING is the name of CDB’s Youth Outreach Programme which has over the years reached over 500 young people in CDB’s member countries. It is a platform for youth engagement with emphasis on youth empowerment and participation in the development process. Each year, the youth address a topic that impacts on youth development. In 2013, the focus for the forum was road safety and CDB approached YOURS to run the three day forum in Castries, Saint Lucia.
CDB alongside Government Ministries of St Lucia; Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Ministry of Infrastructure, Port Services and Transport partnered with YOURS and we delivered the forum themed ‘Road Safety: Save a Life, Save a Future’. One key aim of the forum was to equip the 26 youth leaders with the skills they needed to scope and implement a local road safety project. After the forum, 3 road safety projects were implementing reaching thousands of young people across the country.
“We are so excited to be part of this workshop! I hope we can be part of more workshops that have so much excitement and energy placed in learning. It was youth friendly and empowering!”
Margaret Charles
Participant at the VYBZING Forum
Workshop delivery in Saint Lucia
Discover our work with young Saint Lucian leaders in road safety
Meeting the needs of a unique forum...
The VYBZING Forum is the Caribbean Development Bank's signature programme targeting youth. Assessing the issues facing young people globally, road safety was selected as the theme of this forum. CDB were the initiators of the programme and approached us to deliver the forum over three days. The project required a strong partnership on the ground the select the most exceptional youth leaders to experience the YOURS workshop and then implement their own road safety projects across the country.
In the partnership was the Government of Saint Lucia's Ministry of Youth Development and Sport, Caribbean Development Bank, Saint Lucia National Youth Council and a number of youth organizations representing Saint Lucia. We successfully worked with the numerous stakeholders to deliver a groundbreaking edition of the VYBZING Forum described as "One of the best deliveries of the forums in its history". The successful implementation of this forum lead to building a stronger partnership with the Caribbean Development Bank and the subsequent 24 month programme in Belize.
The overall objectives of the workshop
Theme: Save a Life, Save a Future
- Indetify key risk factors that place young people at increased risks for road related deaths and injuries in Saint Lucia and the world;
- Identify areas of road safey decision making in the Caribbean and how to focus on reducing road crashes;
- Understand and demonstrate project management skills to scope road safety projects to address the issue of youth and road safety in St.Lucia
Road safety education reinvented
It's no secret that young people experience life differently to their parents and the older generations, so then why do so many workshops assume that young people want to sit through an old school style of learning? We've experienced it ourselves, sitting through hours of presentations, speech after speech and talk after talk. If we really want to engage with young people, we know this is not the way! Therefore YOURS is using a highly interactive and engaging methodology while delivering workshops.
In collaboration with the Caribbean Development Bank, YOURS set about creating the agenda for the forum to meet specific outcomes set by our partner.The Workshop within the framework of the VYBZING Forum had 4 stages:
- Stage 1: Training on Road Safety (Day 1)
- Stage 2: Project Management Training and Scoping a Project (Day 2)
- Stage 3: Writing a Youth Declaration for Road Safety (Day 3)
- Stage 4: Follow-up and evaluation (ongoing)
Topics covered:
- Scope of the Road Safety Problem
- Youth and Road Traffic InjuriesKey Risk Factor in Road Safety: Distracted Driving
- Project Management
- Brainstorm for a community based project
- Briefings to keep going (fundraising, networking, etc.)
- Advocate: designing a Youth Declaration for Road Safety
See the forum in all its glory...
“On behalf of the management and staff of CDB, I wish to convey our appreciation to YOURS for conducting a highly successful VYBZING St. Lucia forum on Youth and Road Safety. As Manager, Information Services Unit, I would recommend YOURS without reservation to partner with other organizations to advocate youth and road safety”.
Angela Parris
Information Services Manager – Caribbean Development Bank
Results and Impact
A workshop is only as powerful as its impact and measurable results. In Saint Lucia, we saw some real tangible action take place after the workshop with young people being given the opportunity to develop their own road safety projects and pitch them for funding.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) awarded a USD10,000 grant to Choiseul Youth and Sports Council, Choiseul, St. Lucia to implement a road safety project in their district.
The grant award followed a challenge issued by the Bank in May 2013 to participants at the VYBZING Youth Forum in St. Lucia, to prepare and submit proposals for community-based projects for funding consideration, centred around this year’s VYBZING theme, “Road Safety: Save a Life, Save a Future.”
The winning submission by the Choiseul Youth and Sports Council focuses on the erection of road signage and protective barriers in Sab Wisha and Troumassee, and included a road safety public awareness campaign.
The positive ripples continued. Members of the Choiseul Youth and Sports Council, St. Lucia, recently appeared on the popular youth programme, Blazin FM to share their views on youth road safety in St. Lucia and to update the public on their community-based road safety project. The group continued to advocate for strong road safety messages across the country, calling for safer infrastructure; a common cause for road crashes on Saint Lucia’s winding and steep country roads. The group, trained in road safety by us, took the issue and made it their own, taking road safety to radio, media and youth centers in the country. These young people, turning road safety into a peer-to-peer messaging, initiated a movement for road safety by becoming road safety champions.