Training Out-of-School Youth:
An innovative scheme in the Solomon Islands

In the Solomon Islands, private companies are involved with the training of out-of-school youths by offering courses in relevant areas.

The Solomon Islands National Youth Congress is a quasi-governmental organization which is responsible for youth affairs. The organization's major activity is to fund projects directed towards youth development. It provides training especially for out-of-school youth and also initiates income generation projects in rural areas. Training is organized with the help of private companies which is the major source of strength of this operation. Many of the projects were started a few years ago, and their full impact has yet to be seen.

The organization is committed to the promotion of youth employment through various activities. Among the particularly relevant activities that it promotes is the National Skills Development Programme, which is intended to provide skills oriented towards employment for out-of-school youths aged 15 to 20 years. Mechanical, electrical, carpentry and plumbing skills are covered in the training course. The provision of initial capital through an award scheme, practical assistance in preparing job applications and interview training are also important components of the course.

The organization has successfully linked-up with private companies in the provision of economically-relevant training and support. For example, Solomon Telekom Company has started offering a course on electronics for out-of-school youths. Public and private links are essential, particularly in areas where training has be to effectively linked to job opportunities in the private sector. An innovative scheme is also offered which trains and supports youth volunteers working for community development in the villages. Training is offered not only for youth who want jobs in the private sector, but also for those who want to enter the public sector for further community development work.

The National Youth Congress was recently selected as the partner NGO in the youth credit scheme developed by the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP). Lack of access to credit often impedes self-help initiatives by young people to deal with unemployment. Simply because they do not possess any land or assets, youth are often unable to provide the collateral required for obtaining credit from formal sector financial institutions.

The Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) was established by an expert group meeting, convened by CYP in 1994 in order to alleviate such bottlenecks in the development of young entrepreneurs. By helping to create a credit delivery system for young entrepreneurs, CYP has targeted a group often marginalized in development thinking and practice. CYCI aims to challenge conventional notions about young people and offer them the alternative of self-employment.

CYCI is designed to help young entrepreneurs who want to establish micro-enterprises to gain access to credit. The enterprises might be urban or rural, agricultural or non-agricultural, in the formal or informal sector. CYCI is being implemented as part of a package of measures to be taken by the Commonwealth Youth Programme that are required to enable the effective and sustainable development of small-scale enterprises. In addition provision of a credit facility, other measures include entrepreneurship training, support service provisions, marketing assistance and information dissemination.

The youth credit scheme is at present in the pilot project stage in four locations, and will be run over a three-year period. Solomon Islands is one of the four pilot locations together with Guyana, India and Zambia. The Solomon Islands programme commenced in Guadalcanal Province in its first year of operation and has been extended to other provinces for the second and third years of the programme.

As the NGO partner, the National Youth Congress operates throughout Solomon Islands using its existing network to ensure effective functioning of the projects. The CYP South Pacific Centre provides external monitoring and evaluation support, seeks funding and co-financing of projects, makes available training manuals and training expertise, and assists in identifying other agencies that could contribute to the provision of support services. The National Youth Congress, in collaboration with the CYP South Pacific Centre, intends to disseminate and replicate the CYCI project model elsewhere in the region.

Taken from the publication: “Review of the Youth Situation, Policies and Programmes in Asia and the Pacific”, ESCAP, 1997

© 1997-2001 United Nations ESCAP.