94
tices. While working on the JEMS capacitybuilding project, the youth acquired valuable
skills and knowledge in climate science literacy;
communication; negotiation; project proposal
writing; fundraising and mobilisation from local
and international donors; community organisation and mobilisation; event planning, management and implementation; as well as
understanding bureaucracy and governance and
how to use diplomacy to access resources and
support. The lesson evolving from the JEMS case
is that opportunities should be created to enable
the youth to acquire practical opportunities to
learn and develop skills through internship,
workshops and other media as well as through
mentorship support, i.e. learning from adults.
These projects should provide opportunities for
reverse mentorship to take place, where the youth
are provided with opportunities to mentor adults
in the use of technology to enhance social networking while they learn new skills from the
adult. This will provide an opportunity for the
youth to engage in livelihood and enterprise
development projects as well as build respect
between the youth and the rest of the community.
This view is supported by the literature, which
states that such youth development programmes
should support lifelong learning and skills development focusing on future market needs (ILO
2010; Poschen 2015).
Theme 2: An Assessment
of the Skills and Knowledge
Required to Build the Resilience
of the Youth to the Impacts
of Climate Change
This area is related to the third step of the conceptual framework, i.e. the analysis of skills and
knowledge of the youth to enhance human capital
adaptation. Climate change is impacting negatively on human capital, specifically on education
and health, causing further marginalisation and
poverty on the poor and marginalised sectors of
the society, of which the youth is a critical sector
(ILO 2010; Nurse et al. 2014; HernandezDelgado 2015). Climate change is already
destroying livelihoods, resulting in increased
unemployment and poverty among youth.
Unemployment accounts for 46% of the youth in
SVG; 24.3% of the population is inactive (IMF
2017) and almost one-third (30.2 poverty index)
are deemed indigent (KAIRI 2008). The impact
of the global financial crisis and climate change
on the Caribbean has resulted in worsening the
overall well-being of the youth and driving a substantial percentage of the population into
poverty.
Education and Training as a Vehicle
for Building the Resilience
of the Youth
Although agriculture and tourism each employs
35% of the workforce, those persons who are
employed in these sectors are mainly low-skilled
workers who have been educated at the primary
level or lower. The situation is compounded by
the fact that climate change education is not integrated into the education curriculum. There is the
absence of experts in most SIDS who are skilled
in the integration of CCE in the education system
and who can facilitate the training of teachers/
trainers to deliver CCE to students. There is a
mismatch between the skills that are offered by
the education system and that which are required
by the labour market (Carter 2008; ILO 2010).
The achievement of sustainable livelihoods is
an important pillar to assess youth capacity to
deal with climate change in the future. Therefore,
the approach to livelihoods in the future must be
“sensible and sustainable”, e.g. farmers will need
to be educated on how to farm in predicted hostile
drought and disease-infested future environments.
Fisherfolks will need to be trained in new fishing
methods such as using GIS to locate fishing banks.
The area of aquaculture needs to be further
explored as a viable economic productive area.
Education and training is an important vehicle to
provide adequate knowledge and skills to enhance
youth capacity to develop sustainable livelihoods
and acquire competencies to build resilience to
create sustainable green energy, green construction, ecotourism and other forms of sustainable
6 Preparing the Youth for the Storm: Deepening the Discourse Around the Youth and CCA in SIDS
tices. While working on the JEMS capacitybuilding project, the youth acquired valuable
skills and knowledge in climate science literacy;
communication; negotiation; project proposal
writing; fundraising and mobilisation from local
and international donors; community organisation and mobilisation; event planning, management and implementation; as well as
understanding bureaucracy and governance and
how to use diplomacy to access resources and
support. The lesson evolving from the JEMS case
is that opportunities should be created to enable
the youth to acquire practical opportunities to
learn and develop skills through internship,
workshops and other media as well as through
mentorship support, i.e. learning from adults.
These projects should provide opportunities for
reverse mentorship to take place, where the youth
are provided with opportunities to mentor adults
in the use of technology to enhance social networking while they learn new skills from the
adult. This will provide an opportunity for the
youth to engage in livelihood and enterprise
development projects as well as build respect
between the youth and the rest of the community.
This view is supported by the literature, which
states that such youth development programmes
should support lifelong learning and skills development focusing on future market needs (ILO
2010; Poschen 2015).
Theme 2: An Assessment
of the Skills and Knowledge
Required to Build the Resilience
of the Youth to the Impacts
of Climate Change
This area is related to the third step of the conceptual framework, i.e. the analysis of skills and
knowledge of the youth to enhance human capital
adaptation. Climate change is impacting negatively on human capital, specifically on education
and health, causing further marginalisation and
poverty on the poor and marginalised sectors of
the society, of which the youth is a critical sector
(ILO 2010; Nurse et al. 2014; HernandezDelgado 2015). Climate change is already
destroying livelihoods, resulting in increased
unemployment and poverty among youth.
Unemployment accounts for 46% of the youth in
SVG; 24.3% of the population is inactive (IMF
2017) and almost one-third (30.2 poverty index)
are deemed indigent (KAIRI 2008). The impact
of the global financial crisis and climate change
on the Caribbean has resulted in worsening the
overall well-being of the youth and driving a substantial percentage of the population into
poverty.
Education and Training as a Vehicle
for Building the Resilience
of the Youth
Although agriculture and tourism each employs
35% of the workforce, those persons who are
employed in these sectors are mainly low-skilled
workers who have been educated at the primary
level or lower. The situation is compounded by
the fact that climate change education is not integrated into the education curriculum. There is the
absence of experts in most SIDS who are skilled
in the integration of CCE in the education system
and who can facilitate the training of teachers/
trainers to deliver CCE to students. There is a
mismatch between the skills that are offered by
the education system and that which are required
by the labour market (Carter 2008; ILO 2010).
The achievement of sustainable livelihoods is
an important pillar to assess youth capacity to
deal with climate change in the future. Therefore,
the approach to livelihoods in the future must be
“sensible and sustainable”, e.g. farmers will need
to be educated on how to farm in predicted hostile
drought and disease-infested future environments.
Fisherfolks will need to be trained in new fishing
methods such as using GIS to locate fishing banks.
The area of aquaculture needs to be further
explored as a viable economic productive area.
Education and training is an important vehicle to
provide adequate knowledge and skills to enhance
youth capacity to develop sustainable livelihoods
and acquire competencies to build resilience to
create sustainable green energy, green construction, ecotourism and other forms of sustainable
6 Preparing the Youth for the Storm: Deepening the Discourse Around the Youth and CCA in SIDS