Programme to help youth in Flanker launched

Using agriculture and land-based therapy to disrupt violence and criminal behaviour among young people is the aim of the Positive Pathways Initiative's social agriculture programme,which was officially launched in the community of Flanker, St James, last Saturday.

The programme is being executed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Democracy International, in collaboration with the Village Initiatives Foundation, the humanitarian arm of the Village Academy School of Agriculture in Moneague, St Ann.

Over the next three months, at-risk youngsters from Flanker between the ages of 13 and 17 are to be targeted and exposed to social agriculture initiatives that combine farming activities and agricultural resources to effect social practices, therapeutic goals, educational habits and more.

Chairman and director of Village Academy School of Agriculture, Sydney Henry, told JIS News that this is expected to have a positive influence on youngsters, who will also be learning conflict resolution, job skills and other life skills that enable personal development and growth.

"[Also], we're going to take the young people out of the community for an experience in another community and expose them to raw agriculture, but we are going to help them in that experience to see the principles of agriculture and how it affects and can help to transform their experience of life," Henry explained.

"We're hoping to build a platform for them, that they will take responsibility for the change that they want to experience and that they want to see in the community around them," he added.

The parents are also being targeted under the programme, according to Henry, who noted that the initiative will be working with mothers and fathers in agriculture as well as how to foster a stronger bond with their children.

The launch was held at the Flanker Resource Centre where youngsters and parents were both engaged in workshops.

The youth took part in violence-prevention exercises such as conflict resolution and de-escalation, as well as decision-making and other group activities. Parents, on the other hand, were engaged in parenting strategies, including how to better communicate with children, as well as agricultural lessons.

The Positive Pathways activity is a five-year commitment by the people of the United States to work with the Jamaican Government, communities and organisations to reduce violence in 12 vulnerable communities in the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon and St James.