Youngsters Invited To Participate In Regional Platform Contests

            Young people in Jamaica and across the region are being encouraged to submit applications for the Resilience Talk and Social Media Youth Volunteers contests, which are being held as part of the upcoming seventh Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean.

            The contests are being hosted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to select youth from the region to participate in two specific aspects of the Regional Platform.

The Resilience Talk and Social Media Youth Volunteers contests were created to give young people the opportunity to deliver an innovative five-minute presentation on their interpretation of resilient economies, and to support the management of the official conference social media outlets, respectively.

 UNDRR Regional Office External Relations Officer, Saskia Carusi, shared that this is the first time that these contests are being held as part of a Regional Platform.

She noted that “Resilience Talk is supporting innovative idea-sharing on resilient economies, which is the main theme of the Platform, while through the social media initiative,we support the active engagement of the youth, which is also a key focus for this specific Platform”.

Ms. Carusi told shared that Resilience Talk is open to persons“who are passionate, like to tell stories in a different format and want to contribute to the awareness and dissemination of disaster-risk reduction information.”

Meanwhile, the Social Media Youth Volunteers contest is seeking to attract energetic, passionate and self-driven youngsters, who will be responsible for creating compelling social media content for the Platform.

Both contests are open to youth over the age of 18 with a cut-off age of 30 for the Social Media Youth Volunteers.

Applicants must be fluent in either English or Spanish or both languages. Successful candidates will have their travel cost to attend the conference covered by the UNDRR and receive a daily subsistence.

Applications for the contests close onFebruary 29, and all youth who meet the criteriaare encouraged to apply online at eird.org/americas/pr2020/rtc/resilience-talk-form.htmlfor the Resilience Talk andeird.org/americas/pr2020/smyv/social-media-volunteers-form.html.

            The seventh Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean will be held from July 7 to 10 in Montego Bay St. James under the theme: ‘Building Resilient Economies in the Americas and the Caribbean’.