The news from the Montserrat Youth Talents Association (MYTA) are the plans are afoot to host the 4th Erasmus+ youth exchange in Montserrat in September this year. Led by Inspirational Volunteer Journeys, 30 young people from the UK, Italy, St. Maarten and Turkey are expected to arrive on island in September.
The exchange, titled ‘Fishing and Farming for our Future’ aims to bring people from different countries to explore the challenges and opportunities for youth entrepreneurship in agriculture, fisheries and environment conservation.
Trevor Keough, Operations Manager at Momentum World who are the UK partner, spent seven days on the island in meetings with Inspirational Volunteer Journeys and the newly formed Montserrat Youth Talents Association (MYTA) who will be hosting the exchange.
Photo left to right are: Kenneth Silcott – St. Johns Action Group, Clarone Smartt – IVJ Volunteer, Chloe Johnston – IVJ Project Manager, Vennetta Johnston – IVJ Director, Scott Fergus Denica Bramble – Youth Apprentice, Jethro Jeffrey – Groundsman DYAS, Trevor Keough – Operations Manager Momentum World.
A meeting was held on Friday, June 30, at the St. Johns Community Centre where he outlined opportunities for Montserratian youth to be included in youth exchanges in the UK and Europe in 2018.
Keough informed the meeting, ‘Montserrat is a stunning little island and the campsite is the perfect venue for youth exchanges. It’s not until you have seen the video at the MVO and then visited the exclusion zone that you can even begin to understand the magnitude of the loss that the people of Montserrat has suffered. The challenges for regeneration are huge, but that is where there are exciting opportunities for young people all across Europe to learn about the challenges in rebuilding a small island state.
The great thing about Erasmus+ is that young people can submit their own proposals for youth exchanges on any topic of their choice said Chloe Johnston, IVJ Project Manager. The forming of MYTAis a step in the ri
ght direction to empower young people to create their own projects and secure their own funding.
T
he MYTA is the brainchild of Denica Bramble who was placed with IVJ under the Youth Apprenticeship scheme pioneered by Hon Gregory Willock, Minister for Youth. Through her placement with IVJ Denica developed the idea for the association in response to a need for young people to create and lead their own organisations to access EU funding. Together with Leon Williams, Clarone Smartt and Chloe Johnston, all young people under 30 years old, the new non-profit organisation has been formed.
Speaking on the creation of MYTA, Denica said, “I am really happy to be on the apprenticeship scheme with IVJ who have supported us to create MYTA.”
“We aim to bring together young people to showcase their unique talents and skills. We are all proud to promote Montserrat’s unique environment and we will involve local youth in volunteer activities to protect its natural resources” she added.
She promoted further: “The upcoming exchange in September will be another opportunity for young people with a passion for the environment to showcase their talents to our visitors’ said Clarone Smartt, MYTA secretary.
“Equally, through IVJ we will be working with international partners like Momentum World to create bonds and opportunities to facilitate young people here to travel to the UK and other EU countries under the Erasmus+ programme.”
