The Sport for Development Peace Unit, which had a specific focus on vulnerable youth, has been disbanded. But the Ministry of Sport says, the plan moving forward will involve a more holistic approach in treating with this reality. Alicia Boucher has more in this report.
00:00The Shaping Communities Program and the Sport for Development Peace Unit were established under the Ministry of Sport Physical Education Division specifically to target vulnerable youth through sport.
00:11Division Director Gabriel McTeer tells the Joint Select Committee set up to examine the effectiveness of sporting programs in diverting vulnerable youth from delinquency and criminal activity that there has been a revision of programs in the past few months since the United National Congress Administration took office.
00:30It brought an end to the Umbrella Program and the SFD Peace Unit at the end of September, having been deemed non-viable.
00:38It's something that I think we can still discuss going along in future considering the importance of attempting to meet vulnerable youth because that would have been the particular focus of that unit.
00:53The Sport Division, yes, we do programs that will affect persons who are considered vulnerable in communities.
01:02However, it's not necessarily the absolute focus.
01:06Unlike initiatives like Let's Talk Sport for Peace and Street Games, which were.
01:11Some programs, such as April Pools, where young people are trained in the discipline of swimming, continue despite the disbanding of the overarching program.
01:20Permanent Secretary in the Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry Penelope Bradshaw-Hines explains that the disbanding was as a result of a change to her ministry, where community development was removed and youth affairs introduced, causing an overlapping of functions in some areas.
01:36She states that different areas of her ministry are being rebuilt.
01:41So I think in a few months we'll be able to say definitely how some of the same goals of that unit would be transitioned under the new structure and the new ministry.
01:52But Bradshaw-Niles indicates that a holistic approach to target vulnerable, the at-risk and delinquency, is being taken involving more than just sport.
02:03For example, in January, at the end of January, we are launching what we call the Civic Engagement Leadership Academy, which is looking again at life skills and values and so on for youth.
02:16It's part of a series of programs that is set to be rolled out for the new year, inclusive of a water polo stand-alone program expected to commence in July-August.
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