The United States Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to govern the implementation of USAID’s Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Project here in St. Lucia.

The MOU deepens an ongoing partnership between USAID and the Government of St. Lucia and brings strategic focus to youth crime and violence prevention. It also highlights the importance of effective cooperation, timely information sharing and sustainability planning.

M. Donovan Williams, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports, Culture and Local Government, signed the MOU on the behalf of the Government of St. Lucia, while USAID’s Mission Director for the Eastern and Southern Caribbean, M. Christopher Cushing, signed on the behalf of the U.S. Government.

In addressing the signing ceremony, M. Cushing stated: “The United States Government has enjoyed a longstanding partnership with the Government and people of St. Lucia, collaborating recently in several areas including juvenile justice reform. This MOU between our two Governments, represents a significant step in the YES Project that was launched last November, and signals our joint commitment to work together to address the problem of youth violence across the Eastern and Southern Caribbean.”

Similar sentiments were echoed by M. Donovan who said: “We are very pleased to be signing this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as it represents the Government’s commitment to a holistic and collaborative response to addressing Youth, Crime and Violence. It is timely and will undoubtedly lead to positive impact among our at-risk youth.”

The YES Project was designed reduce youth involvement in crime and violence in target communities in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean, with particular focus on St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana and St. Lucia.

It specifically seeks to increase the institutional and technical capacity of regional bodies, select national government systems and community stakeholders to reduce the risk factors that drive youth crime, violence and victimization and to strengthen the protective factors that build resiliency.

The Programme has three components: The Strengthening Evidence-based Decision Making for Citizen Security in the Caribbean (CARISECURE) Project, which supports the use of quality data to improve youth crime and violence policy-making and programming; the Community, Family and Youth Resilience (CFYR) Project, which seeks to support at-risk youth within their communities by matching youth with interventions based on their level of risk; and the Juvenile Justice Reform Project (JJRP II) which seeks to strengthen and rehabilitate the Juvenile Justice System by reintegrating youth in conflict back into society.

The Signing took place in the conference room of the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development Sports, Culture and Local Government.