The City of Port of Spain hosted the latest meeting of CLGF’s Inclusive Cities Network (ICN). In Port of Spain representatives from Canada, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, and the UK shared ideas and good practices on ways in which cities can best support their growing youth populations, engage them effectively in the work of the council and provide the necessary services to ensure that they can play a meaningful role in the community.

Dr Mashuq Ally, Assistant Director Equalities and Human Resources in Birmingham reported on their work dealing with drugs and gang culture in the city and Abdul Marah, Director of Youth Services, Freetown City Council focused on strategies that the City is using to encourage young people to participate in the council’s decision making

One of the objectives of the ICN meetings is to enable practitioners to see first-hand initiatives which are taking place in the host council, and to hear more about the work of the council to address the meeting’s theme, in this case, youth. The ICN members visited the Servol Skills Development and Life Skills Training Programme, the work of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Arts Programme at the Laventille Youth Facility to share their own observations with staff, and to hear about other initiatives with which the council is involved. A detailed report of the meeting, including a write-up of all the case studies shared by the participants will shortly be available on the website.

The ICN provides a valuable opportunity for city members to come together to address common policy challenges and share information about successful projects and programmes around a selected theme. Find out more