From the CARICOM Secretariat (CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) - Young people from six Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, yesterday, completed a three-day training programme in Edutainment designed to assist them to influence their peers positively through that method. The CARICOM Secretariat, partnered with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for a Regional Workshop on “Translating Knowledge into Action - Training Youth to Teach Youth through Edutainment” from October 26-28, 2009 at the Theatre Guild, Georgetown, Guyana. Youth leaders were drawn from Dominica, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname to experience new methods of delivery to impact and influence their peers about issues affecting them including Teen Pregnancy, Gender Based Violence, HIV and AIDS. The Programme sought to increase the knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviours of adolescents and youth to facilitate the adoption of healthy lifestyles. The methodology used was linked to the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) programme currently being implemented in schools across the Region. It is a methodology which shifts from the traditional mode of delivery to one that is perceived to be more highly effective. The curtains were drawn on the workshop with a Street Theatre presentation in Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday October 28, 2009. The pedestrian walk-way was transformed into a live theatre depicting stories of child abuse and teen pregnancy. Explaining the concept behind the street-based presentation, the Senior Project Officer of the Education sub-Programme within the Directorate of Human and Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat, Ms Pat McPherson said that Out-of-School-Youth were not a “homogenous group” therefore traditional means of knowledge transfer would not effectively perpetuate messages which would see them adopting healthy and productive lifestyles. Ms McPherson explained that the group that benefited from this workshop would form a cadre of specially trained young people who would become trainers of trainers in their respective communities. In her remarks, Co- Chair of the CARICOM Youth Commission, Ms Yldiz Beighle, said that despite the positive indications that the Region’s young people were “doing well” according to the research findings on the Commission’s Report on Youth Development, they were still, “coping with major challenges.” She said that the Youth Commission in its interaction with young people found that Edutainment offered a “simple mechanism” to connect with the Out-of-School-Youth. “Young people want to be reached in their spaces through non-traditional means. Along with information about HIV/AIDS and drug abuse, they need additional basic life skills such as negotiating, problem solving, and interpersonal communications in order to make safer choices and to protect themselves from major threats,” she said. “It is your time, young people, so bring about the changes you want to see in your family, your community, country and Region,” she added. Ms Beighle said that the recently completed report on the state of the Region’s Youth was a document to which could now assist policy makers in taking action. “Our Region’s young people are an untapped goldmine- they are creative and talented. Let’s reach them and work together to build them,” she said. The workshop was held under the theme “Using Edutainment to reach Youth in their Spaces."