UNDP funding citizen safety and security mini projects
Published:Wednesday | December 22, 2021 | 12:06 AMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer
Since July, 10 youth groups across the island have been involved in implementing mini projects in their communities under the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Amplifying Youth Voices and Action in Citizen Safety and Security project, which falls under their social cohesion portfolio.
“The Amplifying Youth Voices and Action in Citizen Safety and Security project seeks to the meaningful engagement and empowerment of youth to actively participate in Jamaica’s citizen security governance and policymaking mechanisms. The project enables youth to design and implement demand-driven interventions in their communities that will improve citizen security and safety,” Davoreen Gaynor, programme support consultant, UNDP, for Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos and the Cayman Islands, told The Gleaner.
“The two-pronged implementation strategy incorporated a capacity-building incubator, as well as the youth-led implementation of their micro projects/solutions. The theory of change applied was underpinned by an empowerment approach and the application of knowledge and skills to provide practical and sustainable solutions to issues related to insecurity.”
The programme opened with an application invitation being circulated on various platforms. Youth-led organisations were invited to submit innovative solution proposals. Several qualifying criteria, such as the feasibility of the idea, and the ability to demonstrate that the group is youth-led, were outlined. Over 70 applications were received from groups across the island.
The selected participants and their projects are Vaughansfield Primary and Infant School (Bully Proof Kids International), National Police Youth Club (Safe and Sound Jamaica), Norwood CDC (Norwood Pathway to Restorative Entrepreneurial Empowerment – PREE Project), the Jahmeyka Project and Youth for Development Network (Art Through Connection), I-Social Educational Entrepreneurial Environmental Development (Empowerment Through Employment), Youth Realize Embrace Achieve Your Purpose (Entrepreneurship Project), Youth Inspiring Positive Change Jamaica Ltd (Youth4PeaceJA Campaign), Every Mikkle Foundation (Mikkle Fire Kit), and Alpha Institute (Called to Lead).
KEY PARTNERS
The key partners for the project are the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, UNESCO members of the project’s technical working group, and RISE (Reaching Individuals through Skills and Education), which was responsible for providing oversight of the youth groups.
As part of its responsibility, RISE works with these groups to develop the most effective and efficient implementation plans, provide advice on implementation, monitor and support the process, as well as provide financial management and disbursement of funds. Each group was given US$10,000 to implement its project.
RISE Life Management Services is a Jamaican civil society organisation established in 1989 as Addiction Alert, offering the island’s first outpatient treatment centre for addictive disorders. To reflect Jamaica’s Vision 2030 and the evolving needs of the nation’s at-risk population, the organisation expanded its programmes and changed its name to RISE Life Management Services in 2005.
The programme is now in its winding-down stage, and the feedback is a positive one. “My thoughts are that there is hope for Jamaica, as the younger generation definitely has the drive and will to be the change agents needed for tomorrow. The youth-centric approach taken by the UNDP is one to be modelled, as the impact from the various micro projects can be scaled up to have a wider reach and an even greater impact,” Gaynor said.