Youth development and participation - a Pacific context

Paul Peteru, of the Commonwealth Youth Programme - Pacific Centre, made an interesting presentation on youth development at the recent regional youth stakeholders meeting. The paper focuses on some of the dilemmas and short-comings of programmes and projects that focus on youth participation and the possibilities for abuse and misuse of participation when it comes to youth development. There is much useful information in this document that should guide ways to improve youth participation in strategies aimed at improving their inclusion in agriculture and improving livelihoods in general.

There are a number of typologies or ladders of participation that have been developed as a means of assessing the level or quality of participation. Many of these have been developed in a more general development setting. However, Paul has brought to our attention a number of typologies and ladders that have been developed in the context of youth participation and development and could be useful in guiding and ensuring that what we talk about in terms of youth participation means exactly that.

These ladders include Roger Hart's Ladder of Young Peoples Participation. Here is an example of how Hart's ladder may be used in assessing the quality of youth participation in a gardening project. Westhorp's participation continuum is another example and a useful guide for developing a youth participation strategy can be found for download at the Foundation for Young Australians website. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and click download Youth Partnership and Participation. Other similar models have been developed by Harry Shier and Elizabeth Rocha and details are available on the Internet. All are useful for reflection on what we mean by participation and what we are trying to achieve. By employing such diagnostic tools it is not to suggest that we have to be "at the top" rung, but rather, that we should be striving to get out of the lower rungs of non-participation, and think of ways to genuinely engage children and youth.

As Paul makes clear, the challenge for all of us is to consider what meaningful youth participation is and what it is not.

Participation, moving from rhetoric to practice and action

There is so much participation-speak to be found these days in the language and statements from a range of international organisations and bodies. However there is a considerable gap between this 'language of participation' and how well it is put into practice. There are as many bad examples of participation as there are good examples and there are a range of reasons for this from a lack of political will and commitment to real change through participation to poor learning and understanding of what participation actually means and involves and which is translated into poor practice. Many individuals and organisations believe that they can quite simply bring about significant change through participation without proper analysis of what participation is and how it challenges the status quo or current power structures. Quality participation requires quality learning and training and sadly this is an area largely neglected although there are some useful initiatives that have significantly improved the learning and teaching of participation.

With this in mind we have pulled together what we think is a useful range of resources and links that examine 'what is participation' and how the practice and action of action of participation can be improved. This resource can be found here and maybe useful in exploring ways and mechanisms for improving youth participation.

The Pacific Youth Volunteer Scheme

It was interesting to learn about the development of the Pacific Youth Volunteer Scheme at the recent youth stakeholders meeting. Such a scheme has significant potential to improve capacity and skills building among Pacific youth in the area of agriculture and related livelihoods and should definitely be explored further in this context.

Who's mentoring who?

The benefits in terms of capacity and skills-building of a period spent in mentoring or as an intern are widely recognised. Unfortunately I am not aware of any such mentoring/internship programmes that focus on youth in agriculture in the Pacific region but would very much like to hear about any such programmes if they exist.

Please share your experiences here.

ADB funded regional survey of TVET skills development in the Pacific

The Asian Development Bank funded a Regional Skills Development Study that was executed by the Forum Secretariat in 2006-2007. Fifteen reports were written that will contribute towards a regional synthesis report. This regional report is still being edited by the ADB in Manila . However, the Forum Secretariat have put the other reports on their website They contain a wealth of information on the status of skills development/technical and vocational education and training in most of their Pacific member countries. Two country reports are yet to be finalized, but 11 country reports, a literature review and a survey of employers and employees can be found here for download. It is hoped that the last two reports will be uploaded soon.

The country reports are comprehensive and provide excellent up-to-date information on formal/informal TVET, enterprise-based training, private training institutions as well as future plans for TVET and analysis of key issues.

If you would like a copy of the final draft of the regional report, please contact Henry Ivarature at PIFS.

Community Education Training Centre (CETC)

CETC , based at SPC, contributes to human resources development through education and training in community development. For four decades CETC has been training women as community workers and leaders to help improve the well-being of Pacific communities. CETC is the only regional institution in the Pacific that offers training on community development for women of the Pacific. The training program focuses on grassroot communities and also extends to meet modern needs in training. Recently it has placed greater emphasis on income generating activities that will increase employment opportunities and therefore promote social and economic empowerment of women and therefore making a difference in the lives of the people in the community. More recently CETC has been involved in the development of 4-week courses in Enterprise Training of Trainers and Citizenship, Leadership and Governance. Other courses and training have focused on developing business skills, micro-enterprise training, competency-based economics through formation of entrepreneurs (CEFE) training of trainers. Clearly many of these experiences could inform a youth and agriculture stratgy and provide much guidance in developing progammes and activities to build relevant youth skills.

Pacific Association of Technical and Vocational Education and Training

The Pacific Association of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (PATVET) is the principal interactive forum for the TVET sector in the Pacific region to discuss and debate issues of concern to the sector, as well as advocating on behalf of TVET in the wider education and development sectors. PATVET is a united voice to advocate, influence, promote, lead and set standards for TVET in the Pacific. In brief, the Association:
a. Advocates for overall development of the TVET sector in the Pacific
b. Influences TVET policy formulation and resource mobilization
c. Leads the charge to set standards on the delivery and recognition of TVET in the Pacific
d. Promotes TVET career opportunities for Pacific peoples in the region, and the wider international community
e. Promotes measures to secure life skills and sustainable livelihoods in the Pacific.

PATVET will clearly be an important player in the development of a sustainable strategy to improve youth livelihoods through agriculture. The website has links to a number of contacts, including the current PATVET coordinator Emily Hazelman, as well as 'youth-based training activities and TVET rural training projects and national TVET providers.