From August 12-16, youth aged 9 to 15 from every community on the island will have the opportunity to participate in a summer camp to learn the essentials of disaster preparedness, identifying hazards, and understanding ways to address climate change. Camps will be held in 47 communities across the island, taking place from 9am to 12pm each day.
The summer camp programme, a collaborative project of the Ministry of Education, IsraAID, UNICEF, East Dominica Children’s Federation, National Youth Council, and the Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD), and with support from the European Commission – Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection department (ECHO), will be an engaging and fun way for the next generation of Dominica’s youth to champion the cause of making communities across the island more resilient to hazards of all kinds.
To further engage our young people and communities, the programme will utilize a unique youth-led model, where high school and college students will not only facilitate the activities of the camps in their communities, but will also design them. Youth leaders were even given the opportunity to name the camp, settling on Camp S.E.C., which highlights training in Safety, Emergency, and Creativity. IsraAID and its partners believe that this innovative strategy will enable young Dominican leaders to gain a deeper sense of ownership over the future of Dominica’s disaster preparedness and response to climate change, all while gaining important skills of leadership, planning, and activism.
As CREAD officer Ayisha Richards explains, “CREAD is proud to be part of Camp S.E.C because a key part of building stronger, more resilient communities is to involve children and youth in the process.”
On Friday July 19th, a pre-training event was held in Roseau for motivated young volunteers interested in being camp leaders. With over 140 young people in attendance, representatives from IsraAID, the EDCF, CREAD, and the National Youth Council discussed the importance of youth leadership on the issue of national resilience.
Lakeyia Joseph, a youth leader involved in the programme who also spoke at the pre-training event, commented on the long-term importance of the camps, noting, “This summer camp, led by the youth, will be a step in the right direction to preparing for any emergency that may occur in the future.”
The youth leaders will meet up once again the week before the summer camps for an intensive three-day training programme to learn more about safety and preparedness protocol, how to effectively teach this material to younger campers, and how to manage their camps in teams. Adult supervisors will also be on-hand for additional support.
IsraAID’s Country Director for Dominica, Hannah Gaventa, noted her excitement for the programme as well, saying, “We believe that through partnerships with local stakeholders and the leadership of young people, this camp will be a powerful time for entire communities to build resilience in practical ways that will strengthen Dominica for years to come.”
For more information or if you’d like your child to attend camp in your community, please contact EDCF officer Dernel Dailey at [email protected] .
