Reflections on National Youth Organization and Representation

Abstract

This chapter draws on the experiences of a Caribbean senior government and intergovernmental judicial official who has had the unusual distinction of serving in the leadership of a national youth organization, national government and regional intergovernmental institution. Mario Michel was the first President of the St. Lucia National Youth Council, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Youth in the Government of St. Lucia and is now a sitting judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. This essay recounts the story of one of the longest standing national youth council movements in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Michel attempts to make relevant to the contemporary context, a history of the institutionalization of participation by assessing the role played by the St. Lucia National Youth Council in policy formulation and the evolution of the Caribbean youth development landscape.