Community, Family and Youth Resilience Program: Country Specific Action Plan – Saint Lucia

The CFYR program operates on a public health model, identifying causes and risk factors for violent behavior among at-risk youth. Through this approach, the risk that youth have for engaging in violent behavior is assessed, and interventions are designed to disrupt those risk factors. At-risk youth in Saint Lucia face multiple constraints accessing training, jobs, and entrepreneurial opportunities. A disconnect between the available skills training and the labor needs of the private sector impedes at-risk youth from securing employment. These youth often lack the job readiness skills and soft skills necessary to succeed in the workplace, and there are limited opportunities to gain the relevant skills for available jobs. Constraints are exacerbated by a limited job market, difficulty accessing relevant job training, the stigma associated with the communities where at-risk youth live, low educational attainment, and the cost of transportation to and from school or training programs. The CFYR program utilizes a public health model to address these challenges. Interventions are classified among three categories – primary, secondary, and tertiary – which align target services and interventions to prevent an increase in risk behaviors among the youth served. Through this approach, CFYR matches youth with interventions based on their level of risk and works to build positive alternatives to violence for young people. Interventions including afterschool and summer programs, community and family activities, assisting youth to acquire employer demand-driven soft skills, new technical skills, and basic life skills to become more employable, and connecting youth to supplementary services, including mentoring and family counseling, all serve as alternative pathways away from violence. The Country Specific Action Plan serves as the primary implementation guide for the YOS and the CFYR workforce development component activities. The plan outlines the private sector engagement strategy, the workforce development implementation model, and implementation modalities and activities. The goal is that the successful implementation of workforce development activities for at-risk youth, having at the center a demand-driven, private sector engagement component, will result in youth trained in skills that respond to the specific and unique requirements of industry. The CFYR program has identified the need to improve access to economic opportunities for at-risk youth, including employment and access to requisite demand-driven vocational training. To address this need, the program has developed a private sector engagement strategy, which includes the following components: private sector demand assessment, grantee and sub-contractor implementation modalities, technical consultative network for curriculum and training development, streamlined communication with private sector employers, and job fairs. The private sector demand assessment will identify the skills and qualifications required by private sector employers in Saint Lucia. This information will be used to develop a workforce development program that meets the needs of the private sector. The grantee and sub-contractor implementation modalities will outline the roles and responsibilities of grantees and sub-contractors in implementing the workforce development program. The technical consultative network for curriculum and training development will provide technical assistance to grantees and sub-contractors in developing curriculum and training programs that meet the needs of the private sector. The streamlined communication with private sector employers will ensure that grantees and sub-contractors have a clear understanding of the needs of private sector employers. This will enable them to develop workforce development programs that meet the needs of the private sector. The job fairs will provide a platform for at-risk youth to connect with private sector employers and gain employment. The Target Table included at the conclusion of the plan identifies sectors of highest employment, private sector employers, and technical and soft skills desired by the included private sector employers. This information will be used to develop a workforce development program that meets the needs of the private sector.