USAID-funded programme to increase opportunities for youth

Feb 04, 2018 News

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Guyana is to benefit from a Community, Family and Youth Resilience (CFYR) programme which aims at supporting family networks, communities, service providers and Government agencies to implement successful approaches that reduce violence and increase opportunities for youth.
Creative Association International has received funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the implementation of the CFYR in target communities in Guyana and two other Caribbean territories.
The timeline for the project is July 2016 – September 2020.
According to information on the project obtained from https://www.creativeassociatesinternational.com/, despite its beautiful beaches and relatively high levels of development, the Caribbean is situated at an ideal transit stop for traffickers moving drugs and weapons from northern South America to the U.S. and Europe.
It said that while drug transit has abated in recent years, crime and violence has persisted. High youth unemployment and a lack of psychosocial support resources for youth have exacerbated the problem and contributed to a cycle of violence.
The Community, Family and Youth Resilience programme will identify and work with families and their youth who are empirically at the highest risk of becoming involved in crime and violence.
This programme will assesses youth risk through the Youth Service Eligibility Tool (YSET), which measures risk across nine factors at a family, peer and individual level.
“Youth will be matched with interventions based on their level of risk and these interventions will seek to increase protective factors or “resilience”. These initiatives include civic activities to build social and leadership skills, workshops to increase youth workforce readiness, community activities that promote positive youth-police contact, and campaigns to challenge those gender norms which contribute to an environment permissive of violence,” according to the website.
The programme will also reach youth at higher levels of risk—those who are leaving the juvenile justice system—with targeted support to improve their chances of reintegration.
Based on evidence and proven success in Central America, including the USAID-funded ProponteMas programme, the Community, Families and Youth Resilience programme aims to reduce rates of juvenile detention and build community safety and cohesion in the areas where it operates.
Creative Associates International is implementing the programme in partnership with international and local organisations with expertise in evidence-based approaches to building the capacity of governments, communities, and local service providers to deliver prevention services to at-risk youth.
These groups include the Pan American Development Foundation, the University of Southern California and Youth Build International.
Recently, Creative Associates International said it will apply part of the funding towards and Annual Programme Statement (APS) and is now requesting Concept Papers from eligible entities to deliver these programmes. Persons may submit Concept Papers for a single component or multiple components.
Component 1: Community Cohesion
Training and mentoring is required for community residents and Community Enhancement Committees (CECs) to strengthen their ability to improve both inclusiveness and cohesiveness in the community.
Component 2: Positive Connectivity to School
This is seeking to support CECs to work with administrators of the schools attended by most of the children from target communities to implement Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support (PBIS) systems.
Component 3: Entrepreneurship
This component is seeking to support the specific CFYR community target population in developing entrepreneurs and does not expect any organization to provide vocational training. Concept Papers should focus on developing soft skills and business/marketing plans for potential entrepreneurs guiding them to effectively develop, organize, secure funds/credit and financing and manage a business venture.
Component 4: Improved Parenting
This component will focus on working with CECs to facilitate the building of nurturing parent skills, effective parental monitoring, use of positive discipline and adoption measures that build confidence and responsible behaviour in/by children. It will also identify means to support fathers’ involvement in parenting. Programmes should be designed to be delivered in multiple settings, including community facilities.
Component 5: Victims of Violence and Trauma Supported
This will seek to identify ways of supporting community healing and to build on existing opportunities to strengthen and promote healing within the target communities. It should concentrate on strengthening informal social networks to provide support to the most vulnerable—including women and young people—along with leadership development to advocate for rights, ongoing support and care.
Component 6: Substance Abuse Awareness
Concept papers for this component should demonstrate the capacity to strengthen the CECs ability to develop and implement social and behaviour change programmes that address substance abuse. The main objectives are to develop key educational messaging that would appeal to the target audience about the effects of substance abuse; create confidential accessible support mechanisms within the communities to assist children and youth with coping skills and assist with building a sense of community responsibility that will help residents see their role in preventing substance abuse in their communities.

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