Responding to the Youth Crisis

Developing Capacity to Improve Youth Services: A Case Study from the Marshall Islands

Benjamin Graham

• Editorial: Asian Development Bank
• Año: 2008
• ISBN:
  9789292572006
• Categoría: Economics
• Categoría: Sustainable Development

The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a relatively new nation, with half of its population under the age of 18 years. This study tells the story of how the Government of the Marshall Islands, with assistance from the Asian Development Bank, set out to strengthen domestic capacity to improve services for the youth. The case highlights the importance of participatory processes and describes how an innovative approach to outsourcing youth welfare services to civil service providers was introduced. It also underscores some of the challenges of sustaining reforms with weak institutions and leadership.

THE CASE: ASSESSING AND ADDRESSING THE CRISIS

By the late 1990s, it had become glaringly obvious to many, both inside and outside the government, that the youth situation had reached critical levels and that greater government intervention was needed. Something had to be done, and soon.

But as with so many other social problems in the RMI, the way forward was not so clear. One thing was certain: the nation’s capacity to plan and implement actions to deal with complex issues was limited. Recognizing this, the government formally requested assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2000 to help improve its ability to assess, analyze, and take action on the mounting issues affecting its young people.

Technical Assistance: Dealing with the Problem in Phases

By 2003, an ADB technical assistance (TA) program was drawn up and approved. The TA^[9] was intended to (1) strengthen and refocus public sector policies, management, and expenditures on priority issues affecting the youth in a participatory manner; and (2) assess the feasibility of and prepare a youth social services project (to be considered for ADB loan funding) to address these priorities.

The main objective was to reduce poverty among the youth by encouraging the demand for and development of youth-specific services and facilities by nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and the government, and by improving the relevance and effectiveness of these services.

The TA design explicitly sought to address both organizational and institutional concerns through two phases. Phase 1, prioritization of public expenditure for the youth, had the following main activities:

• Stakeholder and needs analysis for youth services;

• Selection of areas of policy and institutional focus and strategic interventions, based on the needs analysis, institutional analysis, and government priorities;

• Formulation of a medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) for youth-oriented services, using a participatory approach involving NGOs and civil society groups; and

• Establishment of a consensus on youth and social issues in both government and nongovernment sectors.

Phase 2, preparation of the investment component, entailed:

• Estimation and prioritization of the needs for additional investments to develop youth services and facilities in the MTEF;

• Preparation of policy recommendations to enhance social services for youth;

• Design of an effective delivery system for social services to youth, through participation of communities;

• Identification of project components for possible ADB financing;

• Identification of the direct support to be provided to the government and NGOs to help implement the MTEF; and

• Detailed costing of the activities and investments required.

International Consultants

A team of three Pacific-experienced consultants was selected to carry out the TA work. The team consisted of a public expenditure management and budgets specialist/team leader, social development/community participation specialist, and youth policy specialist. The consultants worked in the RMI on an intermittent basis from October 2004 to October 2005.

Role of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Other Partner Organizations

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has the mandate to oversee youth affairs in the RMI Government, so it was designated as the executing agency for the project. The Youth Services Bureau (YSB) in the MIA took direct responsibility for supporting the project. The YSB staff worked closely with the international consultants and partner organizations on the TA.

The TA took on a highly consultative and participatory approach, engaging a wide spectrum of Marshallese society. The National Youth Congress (a nongovernment association of youth); the Marshall Islands Council of Non-Governmental Organizations (MICNGOs); and the Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office were among the important partnering organizations. The Chamber of Commerce and Cabinet were also consulted on the TA and its progress.

A project steering committee (with a cross section of representatives) was established to provide guidance on the TA implementation; one Cabinet member sat on this committee. Also, a Youth Advisory Committee was formed to work with the project steering committee and consultants.

A 2006 ADB summary review of the project found that “Stakeholder participation was extensive and this led to ownership by all relevant participants”, and that “The participatory manner in which the TA was conducted helped affirm country ownership for appropriate assistance.”

Colleen Peacock-Taylor, one of the international consultants, recalled that, “The holistic nature of the proposed project required high-level programming and administrative collaboration with a range of state and nonstate agencies. These relationships were not in place and, as a result, a primary focus of the Youth Social Service Project (YSSP) was building collaboration among agencies responsible for youth development.”

TA Implementation: Activities and Achievements

The maj...