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Six ways to turn the Solomon Islands' youth into a long-term asset

By Russ Grayson - posted Thursday, 1 April 2004


A report prepared for AusAID (Australian Agency for International Development) has identified six approaches to development that could address the issues that have led to instability in the Solomon Islands.

The report, Youth in the Solomon Islands: A Participatory Study of Issues, Needs and Priorities (pdf, 1.2Mb), was prepared by Ian Scales, an Australian with considerable experience in the Solomons. Delivered to AusAID in 2003, Scales's report is credible because the research was carried out in the villages in a manner that encouraged participation.

Youth in the Solomon Islands focuses on the perceptions and proposed solutions of a demographic that figured prominently in the coup and ethnic conflict that brought tension to the Solomons between 1998 and 2002.

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Like other countries that have undergone political instability in recent years, the Solomons has a disproportionate number of people between the ages of 15 and 30 years. It is this "youth bulge" that becomes restless when young men fail to find jobs, obtain an education or find a positive role in their society.

These were the very issues that Scales found to be a concern of young people in his research. Without the opportunity for income generation - the economy collapsed during the tensions and is only starting to recover - there is poverty and an aimlessness that finds no relief through traditional village structures. This situation is fed by poor access to education and a high rate of illiteracy.

Based on his findings in the villages, Scales proposed that the problems of youth in the Solomons be tackled by an approach focusing on six broad areas: education, livelihoods, reproductive health, participation in the community, sport and activities for youth.

Education

Education is pertinent to the creation of livelihoods, however the education system in the Solomons has not been characterised by the phenomenon of "drop-outs" - people failing to continue their education - but by "push-outs", students pushed out of the system due to a lack of places and opportunities to continue their studies. There are few opportunities for school leavers and the rural training centres, which provide vocational training, are not always accessible.

In addition to the poor resourcing of schools, there is also the question of what students are educated for. According to an independent source who completed two years as a teacher in the Solomons, the education system is derived from Australia and some of the subjects, such as types of mathematics taught to senior students, are unlikely to be of much use. He suggested that subjects of greater direct relevance to the life of the Solomons should be taught.

Scales found that the demand for formal education is not great. Improved informal, vocational training in practical skills and "life education" - literacy, reproductive health and so on - at the village level was what is needed.

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This would necessitate an upgrade of the rural training centre system so that it was accessible to a greater number of youth. Although the ACTU's aid agency, APHEDA, is believed to be interested in this area, the scale of servicing the geographically dispersed and frequently isolated population would require an approach that only international aid donors would have the capacity to support.

Livelihoods

There is little concern with employment in the formal sector of the economy. The population is distributed over a large number of islands and the formal employment sector found in Honiara, the capital, and regional centres such as Auki (Malaita) and Ghizo (Western Province) offers only limited prospects.

What is needed are income-earning activities based in the villages. Agriculture is an obvious activity because produce can be sold at village markets and the staple root crops - sweet potato, cassava, taro, yam - are transportable over considerable distances. There is a constant demand for staples in the towns and farmers on North Malaita have developed a market for their pineapples at Honiara Central Market, a six-hour ferry journey across Indispensable Strait.

The annual population growth of 3.6 per cent promises growth in the market for staples and agricultural produce, but whether it will grow at a rate capable of sustaining a corresponding growth in livelihoods remains to be seen. Rural families continue to produce the bulk of their food needs through subsistence farming.

The processing of agricultural goods for export to the towns offers a greater challenge. Although dried breadfruit sold in Honiara is produced in the distant Santa Cruz islands and a honey-peanut butter mix produced on Isabel is available, villagers and aid organisations have found difficulty identifying other products with potential.

As for crops for overseas export, there has long been a copra industry in which villagers participate when they need money, however the industry has declined over the years. There is little prospect of developing a commodity market in beverages and copying Papua New Guinea's success with its exports of teas and coffees, some of which go to the growing organic food market in Australia and elsewhere through "fair trade" organisations. In the Solomons, there is no terrain high enough to produce the premium Arabica coffees and the teas that do so well in the PNG highlands.

There may be a small export market of Pacific island nuts, were it to be developed. Cut Nut and Gnali Nut have long been grown in the villages and can be found in village markets.

The tourism industry offers limited prospect of livelihoods as it was severely damaged by the ethnic tensions and was not large before that. Producing durable goods - products that can absorb the cost of transport and retain high value - in villages is also limited. The Australian aid organisation APACE attempted a furniture making - including furniture for schools - and a village carpentry project in the late 1990s but both failed.

Recognising the fact that village livelihoods will have to be farm-based, a local aid agency, the Solomon Islands Kastom Gaden Association has provided training through the AusAID-funded Sustainable Livelihoods for Rural Youth Project in agricultural forestry, pig farming (pigs have high value in Melanesia), chicken keeping and small business to assist village youths establish small enterprises. Inexplicably, AusAID made the decision not to renew funding for the two-year, post-conflict project.

Reproductive health

In his research, Scales found a demand for education in reproductive health. Family planning and sexual health were cited, both relevant because of the high rate of teen pregnancies and the need to stop the spread of AIDS into the Solomons.

While some aid workers speculate that HIV/AIDS may already exist in isolated cases in the Solomons, educating sexually-active youth is important to prevent the disease gaining the potentially epidemic proportions it has reached in nearby PNG.

The Australian government already has an HIV/AIDS program in PNG, however the head of the United Nations AIDS program, Dr Peter Pilot, said on a recent visit to Australia that the disease was spreading in PNG with one per cent of pregnant women in Port Moresby and a total of 22,000 people throughout the country suffering. He warned of an "Africa-type situation" with dire impact on agricultural production and police and security forces, potentially reducing national security, a factor important in a country with deteriorating law and order. Once one per cent of the population developed HIV infection, he told the Sydney Morning Herald (24.3.04) you have an epidemic unless preventative programs are put in place.

With a population of only about 400,000 people, were HIV/AIDS to take off in the Solomons the effect on agricultural production could be devastating. And with a direct air link between Honiara and Port Moresby, the potential for the spread of HIV/AIDS to the Solomons must be taken seriously.

Village life - participation, sports and youth activities

Scales' three remaining issues of concern to youth are pertinent to how youth fit into village life.

He found a feeling of marginalisation in the village due to a lack of opportunity to play an influential role in society. Youth need to be listened to by village leadership and opportunities to participate in leadership through village meetings and decision making opened up.

While a soccer-led village development is unlikely, the potential for sports to play a constructive role in the life of youth is great. Soccer and basketball are popular but their development is held back by a lack of facilities and equipment at the village level. Lack of training and coaching was identified by respondents as major problems. Were this to be addressed through the aid program there may be much to gain in areas as diverse as health and self-esteem.

Sport forms part of the youth activities raised as an issue by participants in the research. At present, the churches, which are strong and influential in the Solomons, provide most youth activities but there were calls for a more inclusive approach as well as access to musical instruments. Training in leadership, a concern particularly of young women, would be of great benefit according to participants.

Useful in project development

Scales' report appears to have great potential as the basis for project development and the delivery of a comprehensive aid programme designed to head-off future political unrest. It may also contain clues about the focus of aid in other Melanesian countries.

Acted upon intelligently, there is a chance to counter growing problems with alcohol abuse (including home-distilling), marijuana, poverty and lack of opportunity and self-esteem that feeds people into militias.

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About the Author

Russ Grayson has a background in journalism and in aid work in the South Pacific. He has been editor of an environmental industry journal, a freelance writer and photographer for magazines and a writer and editor of training manuals for field staff involved in aid and development work with villagers in the Solomon Islands.

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