SKNYS
ST. KITTS-NEVIS YOUTH SUMMIT
THEME
This is Our Time
ST. KITTS-NEVIS • YOUTH SUMMIT • 2026
THIS
IS
OUR
TIME.
A formal civic movement. A generation that refuses to wait. The SKN Youth
Summit delivers the Youth Agenda — five evidence-based
demands — publicly to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. On record.
Every year.
5
ARENAS OF DEMAND
4
SUMMIT COHORTS
5
ISLANDS, ONE VOICE
ON RECORD. FOREVER.
ABOUT
A Nation That Must
Listen to Its Youth
The SKN Youth Summit is not a student project. It is a formal civic movement — producing a
document delivered publicly to government, on record, each year.
St. Kitts and Nevis is losing its young people. Not all at once. Quietly. One by one. Through a school system that prepares them for examinations but not for the economy. Through a governance structure that decides their futures without asking them. Through a mental health crisis the culture has demanded they carry in silence.
The SKN Youth Agenda is the organised, deliberate and unapologetic refusal of that reality. It is a formal civic document — produced by trained young people, delivered publicly to the Government of SKN on record, and followed up six months later at a public forum.
"A nation that does not invest in its young people does not lose them slowly. It loses them completely — and then it loses itself."
This Agenda is the investment St. Kitts and Nevis has been deferring. Produced by the SKN Youth Summit Executive Team and the Liamuiga Cohort, it spans five arenas and is the most consequential civic act young people in this federation have ever undertaken.
COHORT 01
Ember
Ages 7 – 10
Planting seeds of pride and hope — the youngest voices drawing their vision for this island’s future.
COHORT 02
Forge
Ages 11 – 13
Planting seeds of pride and hope — the youngest voices drawing their vision for this island’s future.
COHORT 03
Surge
Ages 14 – 16
Planting seeds of pride and hope — the youngest voices drawing their vision for this island’s future.
COHORT 04
Liamuiga
Ages 17- 21
Planting seeds of pride and hope — the youngest voices drawing their vision for this island’s future.
Arenas
Five Arenas Five Demands
The five areas of national life where the absence of investment in young people is producing
measurable, documented harm — and where SKNYS demands action.
01
🏛️
Governance
"Young people are almost entirely absent from the formal
decision-making structures of a government that makes
decisions about their lives every single day."
THE DEMAND
Establish a National Youth Advisory Committee — a standing body with a mandatory consultative role in all national legislation affecting people under 30, with equal representation from both St. Kitts and Nevis, transparent selection and published records of every consultation.
02
📚
Education
"The curriculum does not consistently deliver the financial, professional or entrepreneurial knowledge that young people need to build productive lives on this island."
THE DEMAND
Mandate financial literacy, entrepreneurship, work-readiness and a structured school attachment programme as core, formally assessed curriculum components in every secondary school across both islands — equally resourced and equally assessed.
03
💰
Economy
"Structural barriers — collateral requirements, no credit history, no accessible enterprise fund — make building a business in SKN nearly impossible for young people without family wealth."
THE DEMAND
Establish a National Youth Enterprise Fund — accessible to all aged 16–30 without collateral or credit history — offering grants up to EC$5,000 and loans up to EC$25,000, with STEP transition protection and a 20% Youth Business Contracting Quota on government contracts under EC$50,000.
04
🏥
Health & Wellbeing
"SKN has no free, youth-specific mental health service. Boys and men are the most at risk and the least likely to seek help. The consequences are visible in every community."
THE DEMAND
Establish a free National Youth Mental Health Programme — a trained counsellor in every secondary school (max 1:250 ratio), a dedicated youth helpline and walk-in service, and a national boys and men's mental health campaign developed with young men themselves.
05
🎭
Culture & Identity
"Kittitian and Nevisian cultural heritage is not being systematically transmitted to the next generation. Young cultural practitioners have no formal economic status and no career pathway."
THE DEMAND
Establish a National Youth Culture Fund and a Certified Youth Cultural Practitioner Register — with a First Work Guarantee ensuring every registered practitioner receives at least one paid government commission per year.
THE YOUTH AGENDA
Five demands.
One generation.
One nation.
This is not a petition. Not a request. Not an appeal for goodwill. It is a formal civic demand, produced by a generation that did the research, built the evidence, named the gaps and is now standing in public asking — on record — for this nation to meet them where they are.
Six months from delivery, the youth alumni of the SKN Youth Summit will convene a public Follow-Up Forum. Every demand will be reviewed. Progress will be named. Absence of progress will also be named.
“We are not the leaders of tomorrow. We are the citizens of today.”
Register
Join the Movement
Open to young people across St. Kitts and Nevis, ages 7-21
Register for
SKNYS 2026
Be part of the generation that refuses to wait. The SKN Youth Summit is open to young people from across both islands — from Ember to Liamuiga, every voice matters.
- Four cohorts: Ember, Forge, Surge & Liamuiga
- Five days of civic leadership, research and action
- Formal delivery of the Youth Agenda to Government
- Equal representation from St. Kitts and Nevis
- Permanent, on-record civic impact
- Public Follow-Up Forum six months post-Summit
Express Your Interest
SCAN TO REGISTER . CLICK TO REGISTER SKNYS 2026
