Young people's experiences and concerns are expected to help shape proposals for how CARICOM coordinates youth programmes and measures progress in youth development across the region.

Guyana's Youth Ambassador to CARICOM, Shaquawn Gill, told Ignite News that findings from the 2026 Regional Youth Survey will inform discussions in Antigua and Barbuda on November 4.

He said the aim is to ensure young people's experiences are reflected in the policies that affect them.

The findings will feed into the Meeting of Senior Officials and Regional Youth Dialogue on Youth Development, which will take place at the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus alongside activities surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, according to the CARICOM Secretariat.

Participants will examine two proposed initiatives: a Regional Youth Development Governance Structure and a CARICOM Youth Development Index. The discussions are expected to help refine recommendations for consideration by CARICOM's Council for Human and Social Development.

Gill said the survey asked young people about issues including education, health, technology, crime and security, and civic participation. Their responses will help identify programmes that are working and areas where more support is needed.

“No country is perfect, no state is perfect,” he said, explaining that the exercise was intended to highlight successes as well as gaps in youth development.

At the time of his interview, Guyana had recorded the second-highest number of responses to the survey, behind the Turks and Caicos Islands, Gill said.

He said meaningful youth development requires young people to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.

“When it comes to young people, there must be nothing about us without us,” Gill said.

Guyana's Youth Ambassador to CARICOM, Shaquawn Gill