Aliyah Hassan with a fellow young influencer Jeremiah Kalekyezi during the filming of Youth Unfiltered.
“My first thought was that every ministry should emulate this,” Young Influencer Aliyah Hassan has said. She is among the almost two dozen influencers countrywide who volunteers her time towards the programme. She especially appreciates Minister Persaud’s input and is very impressed at how she has dedicated a lot of time to it.
Hassan is also grateful to the ways in which Dr. Persaud has contributed to the personal development of the young influencers by arranging for several training sessions to help them put out a perfect show and learn about social ills and the ministry’s programs. “We saw her dedication to helping us to develop ourselves and not just to work on the programme. I’m sure she will give that same dedication and focus to young influencers as we continue on,” Hassan expressed.
Dr. Persaud adds her personal touch and flair to help perfect the programme.Other young influencer Jeremiah Kalekyezi feels that the show is “definitely something fresh,” as there is hardly any other show that relates specifically to youths and the issues surrounding them. “Minister Vindhya has been working with us very closely to ensure the show stays targeted to our young population, even directing some of our shoots personally. She is a fun person to work with and someone I think many can look up to,” he expressed.
The young influencers would choose a topic among themselves with everyone pouring in fresh thoughts and ideas. The programme has a talent segment, one for trends among youths, and an unfiltered segment in which the youths speak their mind without a scripted conversation in place.
The most recent episode speaks to bullying and also features a short overview of statutory rape.
The young influencers putting on a show at the Conference Center.“As young influencers, we try to cover these topics as ‘youth like’ as possible, like down-to-earth and casual. It’s meant to be a safe space for youths to listen and share their perspectives while reaching out to the public and promoting services that the ministry offers,” other youth influencer Savitri Ramlochan, based in Berbice, commented.
“Personally for me, I think that we have achieved this goal of being as unfiltered as possible because it’s all coming from the voice of youths and that is not scripted. The minister gives us full control of our views and expressions,” Ramlochan further commented.
Youth Unfiltered is a 30-minute programme that usually airs on the ministry’s Facebook page, on E- Networks Channel One and on the National Communications Network (NCN). (Ministry of Human Services and Social Security Release)
