John Roach Appointed Acting Chief Youth Development Officer

John Roach Roach’s Contribution to Youth Development Work in the Region - DOMINICA

Current Designation The Acting Chief Youth Development Officer Youth Development Division, Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports 23 Years in youth work

With the genesis of his work with youth as a school teacher, Dominica’s Acting Chief Youth Development Officer, Mr. John Roach began the journey along the path of a life dedicated to the development of youth in Dominica and across the Caribbean region.

1993-1995 1995 as a young Youth He pursued the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) Diploma Studies in 1993 Development Officer within the Youth Division. Prior to this, he spent five years as a school teacher but was called by the Ministry’s youth department to manage a youth centre in his community. This was followed by an opening to work as a Youth Development Officer for seven years and later as Youth Training Instructor in a Youth Skills Training Programme for about seven years before moving to working with young entrepreneurs.

“The Commonwealth then wanted to establish a programme where young people would be given an opportunity to start their own businesses through the Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative, to empower young people by having training, funding and te technical support.”

Mr. Roach played a pioneering role and was very instrumental in getting the Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT) off the ground (which is managed by a Board and headed by a member of the private sector). With tremendous support from CYP aand nd the Youth Development Division, DYBT became “a major contributor to social and economic development in Dominica,” proudly noted by Mr. Roach.

Looking back over the last 19 years since pursing studies for his Diploma in Youth Development Work from CYP, Mr. r. Roach feels that the prerequisites made the biggest impact. “Most of us had to have the Certificate Course in Youth Work. We did a number of multi multi-disciplinary disciplinary leadership training programmes which included Basic, Advanced and Therapeutic Counseling. It really set the basis or the foundation”

To him the course was intense and very practical, not just theoretical. It was both work and study to better understand the important role young people play, socially and economically. His practical internship was in the area of substance abuse. “I did my job attachment with the National Drug Prevention Unit where I was able to understand challenges faced by young people, those who use or traffic drugs. I had an understanding of drug prevention policies and the complexities about the programme. Also how expensive it is to run such programmes.”

For the residential aspect of the programme, over 100 youth leaders from around the region camped in Antigua for three weeks. “The level of professionalism by officials of CYP in terms of the management of over 100 participants should be highly commended.” Ten persons from Dominica participated and there was a 90% overall pass rate; one person not completing due to other commitments.

Mr. Roach is now the holder of an MBA in Public Sector Management and feels there is a direct link between that achievement and the knowledge and foundation gained through the CYP Diploma Course.

Since then, he has worked with CYP and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to empower youth departments in various countries by strengthening the capacities of persons involved in youth work. He has trained numerous youth officers to prepare them for work in entrepreneurship development using the methodology of the Achievement Motivation Training (AMT) that was introduced by Dr. Siddartha Sankar Dash from India who was in Dominica for 6 months from 2005 to 2006 through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Corporation (CFTC). CYP engaged Mr. Roach to provide technical support to youth workers in St. Lucia, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago from 2005 to 2010.

From 2011 to 2012 the CARICOM Secretariat engaged Mr. Roach on a regional technical team to develop a regional youth entrepreneurship manual. This project is coined CEBO – Creativity for Employment and Business Opportunity, a new initiative that seeks to engage, motivate and inspire entrepreneurial interest and action among youth.

The first two pilots were conducted in Jamaica and Belize in October and expected to be piloted in St. Kitts & Nevis and Dominica in November, and finally in the Bahamas in December.

Mr. Roach was very instrumental in introducing a new youth development initiative in Dominica called A Ganar. A GANAR – to gain, to win, to earn – the programme was introduced last year using a holistic approach to target youth, age 16-24 merging the discipline of sports, sports education, life skills and entrepreneurship. In Dominica, Mr. Roach also partnered with ‘CALLS’ – Centre where Adolescents Learn to Love and Serve to run the A Ganar programme. A Ganar is run by Partners of the Americas.

“I work with the Caribbean Group of Youth Business Trusts which is now the Caribbean Centre for Excellence in Youth Entrepreneurship (CCEYE). We recently had our 5th annual conference and it’s a new institution that if well served with the necessary resources, can have a major impact in region. ” In terms of his opportunity to advance the youth development agenda in the region, Mr. Roach has been making his contributions on both the national and regional platforms. As a result of his passion for youth

development and entrepreneurship Mr. Roach spent a week in Belize assisting with the development of the Strategic Plan for the Youth Business Trust Belize (YBTB) in 2011. On the home front, he feels that even though Dominica has had a national youth policy for the last eight years, it is time for it to be reviewed.

“The CYP PEAS – the Policy Environment Assessment Score can be used to look at what is in place for young people. I think these are major initiatives that I want to push. Strategic planning should look at trends and issues that affect young people. Youth work is very dynamic and is an area that we should professionalize ze and that is the direction we should go, we also need to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that are propelled by ICT.”

John Roach and Family

Mr. John Roach, a true son of the Caribbean soil, a pioneer, a life dedicated to the advancement of youth work and development in his home country Dominica and throughout the Region.