- Make young peoples voice be heard.
- Provide an opportunity for young people to participate and learn their custom and culture
- To encourage and promote the use of vernacular language.
- To encourage young people to develop their own skills using valuable resources to generate an income.
- To develop IEC materials as a tool to advocate more effectively for the interests for young people.
The idea of custom school was recommended by urban young people after the social youth research conducted from 2005 – 2006 by the researchers of VYPP project.
Kastom School has been launched and starts today Monday 25th February 2008 at The National Museum Conference Room. This exciting opportunity will offer the Vanuatu young people a chance to learn their own Kastom and make good use of them.
In Vanuatu Kastom is very important and we define it in a more heavy way. Kastom is our identity. It is the practices that enable us to have good governance, justice, and it is where respect, benevolence and honor are found.
When we learn our Vanuatu Kastom it helps us to be self reliant and confident to face life. Our Kastom show the importance of language, and the appropriate use and names in languages. It teaches peace and conflict resolution, restorative justice and other necessities in life.The program target 5 islands to begin with and aimed to cover the whole of Vanuatu soon. The first five island groups will be Tanna, Tongoa, Efate, Malekula and Pentecost.
First from the list were the youths from Tanna on the southern part of Vanuatu both males and females attended the training which begins today and their first 2 weeks will finish by Friday next week. The program is proudly funded by NZAID and Oxfam International for the overall funding of the projects administration.
After the two weeks training for the target islands, the rotation begins from Tanna youths to start their practical training on different theories covered.
A facilitator from the same island to facilitate the practical skills, so the youths maintained sustainability in their traditional way of life. This will support them not to be dependent but work for a bright future for their own generation.
The full plan of the program is to increase the awareness and continue to provide training and also practical skills of custom identities throughout this year. And hopefully the Vanuatu Young Peoples Project (VYPP) will extend its custom and identity services to other organizations to do the same training and move the nation forward in a kind of role model to other nation in the region and around the world in maintaining its identity values sustainable.
