Looking after a nation's children and encouraging them to believe in themselves can help reduce crime, says former United State secretary of state Colin Powell.

Powell and his wife Alma were the guest speakers yesterday at the launch of this country's national mentorship programme at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) Port of Spain.

Powell is the founder of America's Promise—one of the largest partnerships in the US focused on mentoring youths.

In their addresses, the Powells stressed the need for children to have proper role models in their life who can be there for them and guide them to achievement.

"We got to find ways to keep our eyes on every single child who needs it, whether it is the United States or the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago you name it, throughout the world, because there is a horrible alterative to it" said Powell.

He noted that the US has five per cent of the world's population and 25 per cent of the prisons in the world.

He said a large percentage of Americans are in jail because of drug use which resulted from their association with "bad mentors" and gangs.

"The kind of gangs that infect our communities and that are affecting the communities of Trinidad and Tobago and the only way to break that cycle is to get them aligned with the right kind of people," said Powell.

He said mentorship is not just about doing "something nice".

"It's a matter of national security, it's a matter of national economic growth, it's a matter of reducing crime...it's a matter survival for all of us in society," he said.

Mentors, he said must urge children to "believe in yourself, believe in your country, believe in your ability to go far with your dream and ambitions".

Alma Powell said children need five basic things to grow- a caring adult, a healthy start, safe places to learn after school, a marketable skill with effective education and an opportunity to give back.

She spoke about America's Promise and its success and stressed that children do not go away, so efforts can never stop.

"Volunteers have the biggest job of all. Every President in our recent history has called on us to give of ourselves to our fellowmen. President Kennedy, with, 'ask not what you country can do for you but what you can do' or President George Herbert Walker Bush calling on each one of us to be a 'point of light' going out in the community, meeting the needs that are there." she said.

National Security Minister John Sandy said Powell was chosen to be a part of the launch of the mentorship programme because he is an exemplar of international repute.

Sandy said Powell is a role model par excellence with a track record that remains unparalleled.

"We all know the state of the world, the state of our country, the state of our communities, even the state of some of our own families and homes. Somewhere along the line, we dropped the proverbial ball" said Sandy.

As one of our female calypsonians, Miss Ella Andall, reflects, 'There's a missing generation out there!' The time has come for us to find that generation, to take back up that ball...with them, and for them," said Sandy.