Poverty & Social Development: A Caribbean Perspective

The increased surges in youth violence throughout the Caribbean have proven that no communities can be immune from such societal shocks.
The stakes here are huge given the needs to address this issue in parallel with pro-active steps to strengthen the socio-economic fabric of some of these islands.
Thus a call that brings attention to the analysis of rehabilitation programs coupled with the appropriate mix in policy and research to drive the implementation of community support schemes.

These aspects are quite vital if any government want to juggle with and drive conducive change to foster better social health among the different strata of any given society.
As it has already been documented, the experiences related to youth violence also encompass non-traditional economic determinants, where multi-causal dynamics harbor new perceptions about the role and impacts of psycho-social adaptations and their relationships to aggression, power and material acquisition.

As a matter of fact, the debate about youth violence and its “ignored aspect” as carried out by the IDB expert panel is a stepping stone toward improved analytical approaches to understand and target the components behind youth delinquency, adult criminality, and their takes on social cohesion, and inclusion versus exclusion.

*Cartoon: Courtesy of Nicholson Cartoons