Peace Project gives out-of-school youths a second chance

Two young youths from West Taraka in Lae City have embraced the PEACE project under World Vision, calling it life-changing, and vowed to be agents of change in their community.

Life for young youths Joshua and Stanley, both 24 -years old has not always been easy after they both dropped out of school in 2020, later that year they found themselves on the streets of Lae, joining gangs and getting involved in illegal activities to make ends meet.

‘’When I got blacklisted from schools in Lae due to my involvement in school violence, I had no hope because no school would take me so I joined my peers and took part in illegal activities just to make ends meet’’, said Joshua shyly.

This was until they heard of the ‘’youths out of school ‘’ Impact Club program under the Respektim Yu yet, Respektim Narapela Na Yumi Sanap Wantaim (PEACE) project in their community. The project is funded by European Union through World Vision PNG.

The pair said they first heard about the project and its involvement in changing the mindsets of youths in their community from some of their peers who were already part of the program.

‘’We saw the change of behavior from our peers who were part of this program and wanted to see it for ourselves so we gave our names and joined the ‘’Bethsaida ‘’Impact club of West Taraka and have since not looked back’ ’stated Stanley as Joshua agrees.

Impact (Involvement, Motivation, Participation, Action, Teens) clubs are a group of young people who meet together to learn and develop relationships with each other; explore various learning topics as a group and individuals; identify community problems and assets; brainstorm, plan, and implement community service learning projects; and develop social enterprises as a way to support themselves and build up their communities.

The goal of the Impact club is to develop competent and compassionate agents of change-young people who are motivated and equipped with the life skills and values necessary to make a difference in the world around them.

Through the Active Citizenship curriculum model, the project specifically targets youths (14 -25) in and out of school. The program aims to develop their skills and knowledge in building positive relationships, and conflict resolution and further develop their skills relating to productivity and employability such as leadership, goal setting, and specific vocational and technical skills.

The RESPECT project under World Vision is partnering with three local NGO organizations Ginigoada, Anis Foundation, and Ward 2 Youth Association.

Anis Foundations, Livelihoods Project Coordinator Andrew Baine, said that currently there are eight established Impact Clubs under Anis Foundation with youths numbering between 250 -270 undergoing the Active Citizenship Impact+ Curriculum training.

There are two modules of the Impact Club Curriculum, the first module’’ Me and Impact ‘’focuses on introducing youths to the IMPACT program and building a sense of team and family in the club. The second module’’ Me and my Community ‘’focuses on community–service learning projects and walks the club members through the process of developing and implementing their first project step–by–step.

‘’Our partnership with Ginigoada then comes in and helps to put the youths to school and some of these youths have already graduated from technical schools and have gone through on-the-job training ‘stated Mr. Baine.

The project teaches the youths to be agents of change so they can do away with bad behaviors and to respect the community they live in, respect their neighbors so that the community they live in can be peaceful and violence free.

Mr. Baine added ''This is a second chance to their lives, and many youths are willing to make use of this opportunity, we have been asked by so many youths asking to be part of this program and I believe this program has brought a change in the lives of youths and will continue and have helped to solve a lot of law and order issues in the communities''.

Evidently, the program has impacted the lives of both Joshua and Stanley and other youths in Lae Morobe Province.

‘We now take part in doing community awareness activities and have been advocating our peers about having a peaceful and violence-free community' 'stated the pair excitedly.

The pair added ''We want to thank the European Union and World Vision for this program because it has had a huge impact on our lives and helped to change our behavior and be good role models in our community.

 With the establishment of 16 active Impact Clubs and the overwhelmingly positive outcomes, the project is looking at extending into other communities to form stronger ties.