The Vanuatu Young People’s Project is divided into two major components: a research and advocacy component and a life skills training component.
The purposes of this project are to (a) undertake an assessment of the situation of young people in Port Vila today and (b) provide these youth (and also youth in rural areas) with the skills to advocate more effectively for their own interests and have their needs addressed by their communities and policy makers.
The Young People’s Project (YPP) is a program of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre run in partnership with Oxfam Australia, which also sources the funding for the Project.
A steering committee for the project includes all organisations working with youth in the country: Wan Smol Bag, the Department of Youth & Training, the Vanuatu National Council of Women, the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, Youth Challenge International, the Vanuatu Family Health Association, the Vanuatu Rural Development & Training Centres’ Association and Save the Children Vanuatu.
Life skills training program : January-July 2005
Prior to the commencement of the research and advocacy component in August 2005, the YPP was only involved in running life skills training programs. Between January and July, the Project ran 14 life skills training workshops with a total number of 486 trainees throughout Vanuatu. In addition, the project was also involved with the Pacific Children’s Awareness Program (PCP) under the sponsorship of Save the Children Australia. Along with trainers from Youth Challenge International, the YPP life skills trainers undertook PCP-coordinated training before running awareness campaigns on children’s rights.
The life skills trainings in conjunction with the PCP awareness campaigns were carried out as follows:
January 2005 - Life skills training in Malakula (Wala, Maskelynes), Ambae (Nduidui) and Pentecost (Abwatuntora)
February 2005 - Life skills training in Vao island (Malakula) & PCP Training of Trainers
March 2005 - Life skills training in Banban (Santo)
April 2005 - Life skills training in South West Malo, Mafea, Talua (Santo) and in Pango IDS (Youth Challenge International camp)
May 2005 - Life skills training in South West Malo & PCP awareness in Lalinda (Ambrym), Atchin, Maskelynes, Vao mainland and Wala (Malakula) and Liro (Paama)
June 2005 - Life skills training in Aore island (Santo) and in Nguna (Efate)
July 2005 - PCP awareness in Vila with the Le Lagon Buninga community
Commencement of new phase of project
In July 2005, Oxfam Australia signed an agreement with the Vanuatu Cultural Centre to implement a new phase of the project, initiating a new research and advocacy component and continuing the lifeskills training component, for one year. In August and September, the YPP recruited eleven new full-time staff: a research coordinator (also the overall project manager), a life skills training coordinator, six researchers and three Port-Vila-based life skills trainers. Below are the names and positions of YPP staff:
1 Reginald Kipe Project & research coordinator
2 Annie Nicholson Life skills training coordinator
3 Robert Luck Butal Researcher
4 Excellent Toka Researcher
5 David Eggie Merick Researcher
6 Anita Faye Researcher
7 Daniel Graham Researcher
8 Lana Takau Researcher
9 Anita Samana Life skills trainer
10 Charles Hinge Life skills trainer
11 Leitare Joel Life skills trainer
In addition, another four rurally-based life skills trainers will continue to work with the YPP as master trainers.
12 Samson Moli Life skills trainer (rural)
13 Diana Dick Life skills trainer (rural)
14 Jack Pandat Life skills trainer (rural)
15 Jack Graham Life skills trainer (rural)
In October 2005, as the first activity of the new phase of the project, all staff participated in a research training workshop, in order to gain skills in undertaking research with their peers and analyzing the collected data. The research training was composed of:
1. Qualitative research training facilitated by Emily Niras. The training covered the different methods of a qualitative research like focus group discussion, in-depth interviews, mapping, vignettes, informal/formal interviews, key informants. Emily also helped with the drafting of the quantitative research questionnaire.
2. Quantitative research training facilitated by William Mohns (CUSO volunteer with the Cultural Centre), which included the coding of the questionnaire and the use of the SPSS software program for data entry. The number of young people to be targeted by the research (the sample size) was also discussed at the end of the training with the assistance of the National Statistics Office.
3. Story board creation training with Jacob Kapere and Sam Obed (from the Cultural Centre’s National Film & Sound Unit). The training dealt with using a camera and filming with the end product in mind.
A sample size of about 1,600 young people, which is 20% of all young people in Port Vila of 13 to 25 years of age, was agreed upon for research.
The research training ended with the drafting of two survey questionnaires, one quantitative and one qualitative and the pre-testing of these in two urban communities/ settlements. Following the pre-test, the questionnaires were revised and submitted to the project steering committee for additional input and modification. The final survey questionnaires were endorsed in early November and a sample size of about 1,600 young people, which is 20% of all young people in Port Vila of 13 to 25 years of age, was agreed upon for research. In this one-year phase of the project, only the urban area of Port Vila is to be covered, defined by the municipal boundaries.
During the same period in which research training and pre-testing was happening, the life skills trainers had the additional task of revising the existing life skills training curriculum (based upon a regional curriculum developed by UNICEF) by introducing two new subjects, adolescent reproductive health (ARH) and the history and cultures of Vanuatu. A curriculum revision workshop was held in mid-October in which all life skills trainers, including those based in rural areas, participated. The workshop facilitators were Anthea Toka and Sofiah Mackay from the Oxfam Australia office in Vanuatu.
The existing life skills training curriculum (based upon a regional curriculum developed by UNICEF) is being revised to include two new subjects, adolescent reproductive health (ARH) and the history and cultures of Vanuatu
Research in the field began in November 2005 and it is hoped that by the new year more than half of Port Vila will have been covered.
The work plan for the project in 2006 is:
January 2006 - Completion of research in remaining areas ; complete first draft of YPP life skills curriculum
February 2006 - Qualitative research begin along with filming ; final draft of life skills curriculum endorsed
March 2006 - Analysis of research findings ; life skills training in Pektel Rural Training Centre (RTC) and Norsup RTC (Malakula)
April 2006 - Report writing and film story board creation ; life skills training in Morobian RTC and Uripiv RTC (Malakula)
May 2006 - Report writing continued and film editing : life skills training in Marven RTC and Uluveu RTC (Malakula)
June 2006 - Finalising of report & film and publication ; life skills training in Aulua RTC (Malakula)
