JSIF summer camps building culture of peace

Avia Collinder, Gleaner Writer

In homes where parents are unable to afford to pay for supervision of their children when they are away at work, they worry about the trouble their youngsters might encounter while on their own.

This summer, minors and youth from 12 inner-city communities in the island are being hosted in summer camps by the Jamaica Social investment Fund (JSIF) to the tune of J$18.6 million this year.

Unemployed youth aged 18 to 25 are also being engaged in camps aimed at reducing gang activity.

Scarlette Gillings, managing director of JSIF notes that for the last 10 years, the camps have been an established investment strategy for the fund which implements the Government's poverty reduction programme.

The camps are run under two programmes, the Inner City Basic Services project ( ICBSP) of JSIF and which is funded by the World Bank, as well as the Jamaica Violence Action Fund (JAVA ), a funding instrument to transfer Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) grant proceeds to competitively selected NGOs and CBOs that support crime and violence-prevention activities for residents of the targeted geographical locations.

For 2011, the summer workshops for minors are focused on developing conflict and mediation skills for children and young people who are prone to or are more capable of getting involved in fights at school or at home.

Mona Sue-Ho, social development manager at JSIF, notes that this year camp sponsors were encouraged to use creative means of targeting males as participants in the camps. Of a total of 1,200 participants under ICBSP, over 700 were males.

"Males are seen as the main perpetrators and victims of criminal activities. It is hoped that involving them as much as possible will lessen their involvement in deviant activities during the summer period," Sue-Ho states.

Inner-city kids most at risk

She notes as well that inner-city children are most at risk at this time of year with a majority of violent acts perpetrated against minors (usually young males) in these communities.

The JAVA Summer Programme was implemented at a cost of $9.68 million and involves 10 camp locations with a total of 832 minors and youth. The children and youth from these camps were drawn from several communities across the Corporate Area.

Two camps chose to address the special needs of children of prisoners and high school teens diagnosed with suicidal tendencies in St James.

In all, some 2,032 participants were exposed to new environments and career guidance, conflict resolution, tolerance, emotional intelligence, awareness of drug-abuse risks, sexual reproductive health, family life education, cultural exposure, and chess, among other positive activities.

Under the ICBSP, which cost $8.9 million, nine summer camps with children drawn from the 12 communities facilitate personal development, life-coping and recreational activities.

Post evaluations of the camps during the last decade show that they build capacity for greater resilience against drug abuse, gang involvement by raising awareness; and facilitate the building of self-esteem especially in those children who suffer from low self-worth.