THE Ministry of Youth organised a workshop in Labasa to raise awareness and explore the opinion of stakeholders and experts relating to youth development in the North.
Speaking at the workshop on Friday, director Youth and Sports William Naisara said the workshop was held annually to bring together various stakeholders providing them an opportunity to pool resources and work towards mitigating against the constraints facing young people's development.
Mr Naisara said youth development issues were cross-cutting and needed an integrated approach between government, civil society, organisations and young people to effectively address challenges that youths faced.
"This co-ordinated approach is in keeping with government's national youth policy that provides the conditions for networking, partnership, dialogue and multi-sectoral co-operation among the various stakeholders in public sectors, private sector, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations," he said.
"By providing a fresh perspective through the new seeds of success program, it has provided the springboard for youth development intervention such as the youth mentoring program, empowerment and skills training."
"Alone and in isolation our efforts are limited in that we need the support of agencies in the resource based sectors in ensuring training which remains relevant," he said.
Mr Naisara said the health and future of youths were at stake if the collective support of society was not harnessed to address fundamental problems that affect them.