Caribbean youth development: issues and policy directions

The objectives of this report are threefold. It aims to: (1) identify the risk and protective factors and determinants of youth behaviors and development; (2) demonstrate that the negative behaviors of youth are costly not only to the youth themselves but to society as a whole; and (3) identify key intervention points for youth development, taking into account identified risk and protective factors for the Caribbean.

While the Caribbean is culturally diverse, many negative youth outcomes are common across countries in the region. These include:

• sexual and physical abuse is high and socially accepted in many Caribbean countries
• the onset of sexual initiation is the earliest in the world
• the region has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS outside of Africa
• the incidence of rage among young people is extremely high
• youth unemployment is especially elevated in some Caribbean countries
• the proportion of adolescent males who carry firearms is extremely high
• anecdotal evidence suggests a widespread social acceptance of alcohol and marijuana in some Caribbean countries

Rough estimates show that losses to society from risky youth behaviors such as teen pregnancy, school leaving, crime, and HIV/AIDS - both in terms of direct expenditures and foregone productivity - reach into the billions of dollars.

Youth are not the problem but a product of their micro- and macro- environments. For the most part, they rationally react to the situation in which they find themselves. Evidence from this study suggests that in the Caribbean, the following factors are the most important in determining the outcomes of youth:

• the family is the strongest protective and risk factor for youth behaviour and outcomes
• connectedness to schools is highly protective against all risky behaviors
• poverty increases the likelihood that young people will choose, or be forced, to engage in risky behaviour
• gender norms promote sexual prowess and mulit-fathering among men. Children of absent fathers are more likely to fare poorly in school. And men’s inability to provide economic support means that women often raise children on their own, leading to greater levels of poverty and vulnerability among these women and their children

The study highlights the interconnectedness of these factors and that changing any one of the risk factors will improve outcomes.

Limited information on the situation of youth themselves and on the nature and effectiveness of the multitude of programs that exist makes evaluation and informed planning difficult. Building on available research and practice, the report puts forward a set of principles to guide youth development efforts in Caribbean states at both the macro and micro environment. These include: (a) taking a life cycle age-specific approach; (b) ensuring selectivity and focus; (c) taking an asset based approach; (d) establishing comprehensive long-term supports for youth; and (e) taking inter-sectoral integrated approaches to youth development. Specific policy recommendations include:

• reforming the education system and maximizing the protective effects of schools
• upgrading the public health care system
• institutionalizing national level mentoring systems for at-risk youth
• reforming and strengthening legal, judicial and policing systems
• using the media and social marketing
• making families and fathers a top public policy issue
• strengthening community and neighborhood supports to adolescents and their families