Generation Y & Vision 2020: Harnessing the Potential
With six years of experience in innovation and invention,
and in the wake of the government’s adoption of the Vision 2020 development
strategy, NIHERST has taken a bold step forward, advancing initiatives for
developing an innovative population using a foresight study on Generation Y.
Generation Y is the 14-28 age group that will comprise a critical component
of our society and labour force in 2020. NEXT Corporation
was employed for this task because of its experiences in foresighting
studies and the innovative programmes that New Zealand has developed and
implemented for its youth and Maōri people.
The Generation Y (Gen Y) foresight study for Trinidad and
Tobago set out to answer three questions:
-
How can Gen Y best help to
create the socio-economic changes envisaged by Vision 2020?
-
How can the country attract and
retain this Generation – both within the country and through the Diaspora?
-
What are the ‘Best Bet’ options
(programmes, policies and initiatives) that can support the most successful
outcomes for members of this Generation and how can they be best
implemented?
The study was undertaken in five phases, four of which
have already been completed.
Phase 1. The initial or “breakthrough” phase introduced
Gen providers to the concept of strategic foresighting and collected early
feedback on issues that members of Gen Y would face.
Phase 2. This phase collected feedback from 90 Gen Y
members from a range of ethnic, educational, socio-economic, backgrounds and
from different parts of Trinidad & Tobago. It also included the views of 20
Gen Y members residing in Canada and the USA.
Phase 3. This phase identified major Gen Y issues. Four
major issues were identified as hindering Gen Y’s aspirations in T&T -
networking skills and capabilities, information technology and computing
capabilities, the lack of a personal ‘Vision 2020’ and a pressing need for
entrepreneurship and innovation.
Phase 4. The fourth phase developed ‘best bet’ solutions
as well as full strategic implementation opportunity cases for addressing
the major needs . Six ‘best bets’ were identified by 95 Gen Y individuals
and Gen Y providers at a workshop held on March 15, 2008. These are
currently being further defined and developed into comprehensive strategic
propositions for submission to the relevant agencies. They include:
-
Youth Arise – a youth
self-empowerment programme with personalised education and mentoring.
-
Get Up & Go – a one-stop
shop and business education facility to get businesses up and running and
modernised.
-
Going Global – which
builds global niche businesses with a particular emphasis on e-commerce.
-
Global ICT – learning how
to use ICT in a global context for personal and business purposes,
emphasising leading edge developments in technology and applications.
-
Lifelong Learning – which
uses personally customised education to keep individuals at the leading edge
throughout their lives.
-
The Private Members
Entrepreneurs & Innovation Club – an opportunity to network locally and
globally with other entrepreneurs and innovators to self mentor, leverage
off each other, and generate success.
Phase 5. Phase Five involves marketing the solutions and
setting up public-private sector partnerships to implement them so that Gen
Y can play a leading and more productive role in Trinidad and Tobago’s
development.
Written: July 2008 |
