Community, Family and Youth Resilience Program Annual Report October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017

Submission Date: Updated December 21, 2017

Submitted by: Debra Wahlberg, Chief of Party Creative Associates International

This document was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development/Eastern and Southern Caribbean (USAID/ESC) Mission.

July 2008 1

1. PROJECT OVERVIEW

Program Name: Community, Family and Youth Resilience Activity Start/ End Date: July 1, 2016 – September 30, 2020 Name of Implementing Creative Associates International Partner: [Contract/Agreement] AID-OAA-I-15-00011; Task Order No. AID-538-TO-16- Number: 00001 Name of Pan American Development Foundation; University of Subcontractors/Subawardees: Southern California; YouthBuild International Geographic Coverage Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana Reporting Period: October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017

1.1 Executive Summary

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Community, Family and Youth Resilience (CFYR) program is being implemented by Creative Associates International (Creative) in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC). This four-year program applies a public health approach to reduce and prevent youth violence, using specialized interventions to reduce the rate of offenders in target communities; improve the skills of youth entering the workforce; and provide specialized services to youth at the highest risk of engaging in violence. CFYR is implemented primarily in Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana and its core target beneficiaries are youth between the ages of 10 to 29. The program’s place-based strategy concentrates prevention activities in a set geographic area to boost overall community resilience and empower local stakeholders and government institutions.

The CFYR Program includes primary prevention services such as social and leadership skills workshops and opportunities to increase youth workforce readiness, community activities that promote positive youth-police contact1 and campaigns to challenge gender norms that are currently permissive of violence. CFYR will also provide reintegration support for youth from CFYR communities leaving the juvenile justice system. The program provides specialized secondary prevention services for families whose youth are at higher risk for engaging in violent behavior. CFYR will train a network of family counselors who will utilize a family counselling approach to lower youths’ risk levels.

1 CFYR does not currently work with police or security forces in Saint Lucia due to outstanding issues pertaining to the Leahy Amendment.

This report covers activities implemented by the CFYR Program during the October 1, 2016, through September 30, 2017, annual period. CFYR achieved a number of milestones of regional significance during the first year of program implementation. CFYR has established strong working partnerships with the public, private and non-government sectors at the central and community levels in Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana. As the Program continues with full implementation in the next program year, CFYR will continue to build partnerships that meet the expected objectives and contribute to the sustainability of outcomes and activities.

In November 2016, CFYR planned, coordinated and executed the launch of the regional USAID YES Project in each of the CFYR focus countries on behalf of USAID/ESC. CFYR also provided critical logistics support to regional and international participants to attend the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Technical Working Group Meeting on Preventing Crime in Trinidad in April 2017, to focus on the importance of using data and information to support evidenced-based decision making.

CFYR applied a data-driven approach to selecting communities for CFYR programming within the three focus countries of Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana, supplemented by a broad base of stakeholder interviews. The recommendations received unanimous approval from the National Advisory Board2 (NAB) in each country, and CFYR is facilitating the development of Community Safety Plans for the 15 communities to reduce violence within communities. CFYR initiated a rigorous research agenda to guide implementation that had the added value of building partnerships with a number of key stakeholders in all three focus countries. These included, among others, Guyana’s Specialists in Sustained Youth Development and Research (SSYDR) and Saint Lucia’s Central Statistics Office, both of which partnered with CFYR in conducting the Community Baseline Surveys in their respective countries. Partnerships were enriched through a number of multi-stakeholder meetings that CFYR convened to introduce the Program and demonstrate how it can impact communities by reducing youth violence.

CFYR commenced fieldwork for its Community Baseline Survey in all three focus countries to understand youth perceptions of safety within their communities to support program implementation in Year 2, followed by a rapid assessment of the role that gender plays in crime and violence prevention that will inform strategic actions around gender norms at the community level. CFYR negotiated a contract with the Institute for Applied Social Research to

2 USAID established a National Advisory Board (NAB) in each focus country (Saint Lucia, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis). Each NAB includes representatives from host country partners that interface with each component of the larger USAID YES Project. Representatives on each NAB include a variety of ministries, departments and agencies; the private sector; and youth representatives. Each NAB provides guidance to YES project implementing partners within its country. The Saint Lucia NAB provides guidance to YES partners in Saint Lucia; the Guyana NAB provides guidance to YES partners in Guyana; the St. Kitts and Nevis NAB provides guidance to YES partners in St. Kitts and Nevis.

2 gather qualitative data using focus group discussions in the five communities in Saint Lucia, that will inform development of the Community Safety Plans and contribute to building community cohesion.

Some of CFYR’s most exciting activities are happening at the local level in close cooperation with each of the fifteen communities across all three focus countries. CFYR is already working to establish Community Enhancement Committees (CECs) in all 15 CFYR communities, and 12 of the 15 communities have already begun to implement a range of primary prevention activities and are moving to formalize their status through elections and a public launch. The CECs will serve as important referral networks for youth to participate in the full range of Program activities. CFYR spearheaded a key scoping activity mid-year to prepare for asset-mapping exercises across all CFYR communities. Based on meetings with 115 community residents across six CFYR-supported communities, CFYR mobilized and trained youth who will collect data that will be included on digital community maps in Year 2. The asset-mapping activity is designed to meet multiple objectives by engaging at-risk youth, providing them with a marketable skill-set and empowering them to contribute to local solutions to address violence. The data collected will further support CECs to develop initiatives to build youth, family and community resilience and reduce the potential for youth to engage in violence.

During the program year, CFYR conducted intensive training for seven teachers and two student volunteers across four communities in Saint Lucia in coding and robotics. This initiative, when piloted in four schools in Saint Lucia during Year 2, is expected to reach 180-240 youth and provide them with skills that will begin to prepare them for employment opportunities. In Saint Lucia and Guyana, 390 youth, aged 10-29 from CFYR communities, participated in activities or received training to build their social and leadership skills during the program year.

CFYR’s groundwork for the family counseling intervention, also known as the Prevention and Intervention Family Systems Model (PIFSM), which forms a major component of CFYR secondary prevention activities, resulted in adaptation of the Youth Service Eligibility Tool (YSET). Originally developed by consortium partner University of Southern California, the YSET is a risk assessment tool that measures levels of risk among youth ages 10 through 17, to determine their eligibility for the PIFSM that CFYR will undertake with local partners in Year 2. This resulted in the YSET’s first time application in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean region.

CFYR has identified government partners in the three focus countries to host the PIFSM, evidenced by an in-kind grant application from the Ministry of Community Development, Gender Affairs and Social Services, Counseling Unit in Saint Kitts and Nevis to implement the model. CFYR expects to receive similar applications from the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports, Culture and Local Government in Saint Lucia and the Ministry of Social Protection in Guyana early in the next program year.

USAID/ESC is conducting an impact evaluation of the PIFSM in the ESC region, and CFYR has worked closely over the last program year to provide substantial input to the independent evaluators, Social Impact (SI). This impact evaluation will be the first, large-scale randomized control trial experiment of a youth intervention model in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean and the impact evaluation is expected to contribute to USAID’s Collaborating, Learning and Adapting Framework.

CFYR has established strong working partnerships with the public, private and non-government sectors at the central and community levels in Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Guyana. As the Program continues with full implementation in the next program year, CFYR will continue to build partnerships that meet the expected objectives and contribute to the sustainability of outcomes and activities.

1.2 Summary of Results to Date

The Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) for the program was approved by USAID on September 8, 2017. The performance monitoring indicators, presented below, were updated during the program year based on ongoing discussions with USAID.

Table 1: Performance Monitoring Plan as at end of Year 1 Number Outcome/Results Indicators Disaggregation Baseline Y1 Actual Achieved Target

YES Goal: Reduce youth involvement in crime and violence in target communities in Eastern and Southern Caribbean (DO1) YES Project Purpose: Increase institutional and technical capacity of regional bodies, select national government systems, and community stakeholders to reduce the risk factors that drive youth crime, violence and victimization 1 SO 1.0 Percent change Gender, Age group TBD N/A N/A3 in victimization rates (10-14 and 15-19, among youth in target 20-24, 25-29), CFYR Strategic communities Community, Objective (SO): Country Increased 2 competence of SO 1.1 Percent of Gender, Age group TBD N/A N/A communities, youth who reduced (10-13, 14-17), youth & families their risk factors below Community, Risk to prevent crime secondary prevention factor, Country & violence eligibility levels after 12 months of intervention

3 SO 1.2 Percent change Gender, Age group 55%4 N/A N/A in feelings of safety (10-14 and 15-19, among residents of 20-24, 25-29, ≥ 30), target communities Community, Country

3 N/A signifies there were no targets for the indicator for Year 1 based on the approved PMP. Most indicators are outcome indicators, which will require additional time for implementation prior to results being demonstrated and reported. Some indicators track changes in attitudes, behaviors and practices over time and will be measured and reported on during later program years.

4 For indicators 3 and 4, the baseline findings are derived from preliminary analysis from Guyana and Saint Lucia Surveys. These baselines will be updated on completion of St. Kitts and Nevis baseline survey.

Number Outcome/Results Indicators Disaggregation Baseline Y1 Actual Achieved Target 4 Intermediate 2.1.0 Percent change in Gender, Age group 22% N/A N/A Result (IR) 2.1 residents of target (10-14 and 15-19, Target communities 20-24, 25-29, ≥ 30), communities participating in Community, engaged in community problem- Country making decisions solving about and participating in local solutions 5 Sub IR 2.1.1 2.1.1.0 Percent of Community, TBD N/A N/A5 Community Safety initiatives implemented Country, Plans developed & from the Community Collaborating implemented Safety Plans achieving partner, Type of agreed objectives initiative 6 Sub IR 2.1.2 2.1.2.0 Percent of Gender, Age group TBD N/A N/A Community capacity target population that (10-14 and 15-19, to address crime & view gender-based 20-24, 25-29, ≥ 30), violence enhanced violence (GBV) as less Country, acceptable after Community participating in or being exposed to USAID programming 7 IR 2.2 - Social 2.2.0 Percent change in Gender, Age group TBD N/A N/A services, systems levels of satisfaction of (10-14 and 15-19, and networks youth-serving agencies 20-24, 25-29), supporting at-risk among youth Community, and victimized Agency, Country youth strengthened

5 Community safety plans in Saint Lucia are in development at report time. CSPs will be developed in Guyana and St. Kitts and Nevis during Q1 and Q2 of Year 2

Number Outcome/Results Indicators Disaggregation Baseline Y1 Actual Achieved Target

8 2.2.1 Capacity of 2.2.1.0 Percent of Country, TBD N/A N/A6 social & supporting target families Community, Family services for at-risk completing the Family type youth enhanced Systems Intervention Model over the last 12 months

9 Sub IR 2.2.2 Inter- 2.2.2.0 Number of Country 0 N/A N/A agency collaboration interagency protocols increased approved to support at risk youth

10 IR 2.3- Positive 2.3.0 Percent of youth Gender, Age (10- 0% 1% 0.15% 59 youth7 alternatives to participating in one or 14, 15-19, 20-24, By Country crime for youth more of the following: and 25-29), Activity SLU-29 in target Advocacy, Leadership, category, SKN-2 communities Mentorship (youth as Community, GUY-28 increased mentors), Country By Age Volunteering, Youth- 10-14 years: 3 focused Clubs, CEC 15-19 years: 6 membership 20-24 years: 18 25-29 years: 32 By Sex Male: 31 Female: 28

6 During the program year CFYR trained Designated Interviewers working for sub-contractors to conduct YSET household interviews. The interviews will continue into the next quarter and will also include YSET interviews in schools. The YSET results will identify eligible youth to participate in the Family Systems Intervention Model (family counseling). The family counseling will commence in Year 2, Q1. 7 The ‘Actual Achieved’ for this indicator is lower than the target and refers specifically to CEC youth membership and youth volunteers. The primary contributing factor was the longer timeframe to complete community selection (March 2017), which delayed implementation of key activities that contribute toward this indicator. Total youth population numbers in CFYR communities are based on census data from Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana.

Number Outcome/Results Indicators Disaggregation Baseline Y1 Actual Achieved Target

11 2.3.0.1 Percent of Gender, Age (10- TBD N/A N/A youth with select 14, 15-19, 20-24, resilience factors and 25-29), increased Country, Community

12 2.3.0.2 YOUTH-3 Gender, Age (10- TBD N/A N/A Percent of youth who 14, 15-19, 20-24, report increased self- and 25-29), Type of efficacy at the Intervention, conclusion of USG- Community, assisted Country training/programming

13 Sub IR 2.3.1 Youth 2.3.1.0 Percent of Gender, Age (16- TBD N/A N/A access to targeted youth 19, 20-24, and 25- employment completing workforce 29), Type of course, opportunities readiness skills training Community, increased with USG support Country

14 2.3.1.1 Percent of Gender, Age group 0 N/A N/A targeted youth who (16-19, 20-24, and maintained 25-29), Business employment 12 sector, Employment months after type, community, workforce Country development training programs with USG support

Number Outcome/Results Indicators Disaggregation Baseline Y1 Actual Achieved Target

15 Sub IR 2.3.2 Youth 2.3.2.0 YOUTH-2 Gender, Age group 0 130 390 youth8 social, leadership & Number of at-risk (10-14, 15-19, 20- Youth By Country vocational capacity youth trained in social 24, and 25-29), SLU: 144 strengthened and leadership skills Community, SKN: 1 through USG assisted Country GUY: 245 programs By Age 10-14 years: 290 15-19 years: 99 20-24 years: 0 25-29 years: 1 By Sex Male: 208 Female: 182

16 IR 2.4 - 2.4.0 Number of Country, Type of 0 3 39 Community knowledge products Product Shared based models and shared solutions documented and shared

8 CFYR trained a total of 535 persons in social and leadership skills, with 390 (73%) representing CFYR target age groups and communities. Other persons (145) were from neighboring communities and were below or above the 10-29-year-old age group. The key activities included summer camps (Saint Lucia and Guyana) and Basic Life & Employability Skills (BLES) Training (St. Kitts). 9 The following knowledge products were shared: a) The baseline survey proposal/questionnaire shared with UNDP to guide future UNDP survey/research activities; b) Assessment of data management systems from CFYR focus shared with UNDP to assist in CARISECURE’s plans for capacity building among key agencies; c) Baseline survey training- Field Interview Manuals shared with SSYDR in Guyana, the Central Statistics Office in Saint Lucia and the Department of Statistics in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Number Outcome/Results Indicators Disaggregation Baseline Y1 Actual Achieved Target

17 Sub IR 2.4.1 2.4.1.0 Number of Country, Type of 0 N/A N/A Capacity of agencies agencies adopting model to implement community crime and community based violence prevention models models with USG strengthened support 18 Sub IR 2.4.2 2.4.2.0 Number of Country, Type of 0 N/A N/A Results of intended users applying agency community based knowledge/innovation models to make decisions disseminated regarding crime & violence prevention programs in the last 12 months

2. ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS

Progress Narrative

The progress achieved this quarter demonstrates a program that is effectively adapting to the needs and dynamics of the communities in which it operates, and also rapidly moving to build the capacity of formal and informal agents of local governance to determine and implement effective strategies to address youth violence and victimization. Many of the CECs, CFYR’s primary conduits for engaging the communities, are now established and ready to work. Non-government organizations (NGOs) and host government counterparts are submitting unsolicited proposals that will support intervention models and initiatives to achieve CFYR program objectives. These unsolicited proposals will be complemented by Requests for Applications that CFYR will issue in the next program year (2017/2018) to support activities across all the CFYR activity areas. CFYR continued to strengthen sustainable working relationships formed with government partners to adopt family systems intervention models that CFYR will introduce and institutionalize in the CFYR focus countries. These models have been both welcomed and endorsed by senior government officials, providing CFYR with the assurance that the start-up phase is complete and CFYR is now operating at full implementation.

Many notable highlights from this quarter arose from interactions with CFYR’s wide network of stakeholders. CFYR supported seven summer camps in Saint Lucia that enabled 273 youth to participate in positive youth development activities and five summer camps in Guyana that enabled 254 youth to participate in positive youth development activities. Of this combined total of 527, 390 were from CFYR communities and within the CFYR age cohort 10-29 years, with the remaining persons falling outside of the age cohort 10-29 years and/or resident outside of CFYR- focused communities. In addition to the 527 camp participants, eight persons participated in the Basic Life and Employability Skills (BLES) training of trainers, for a combined total of 535 persons who received training in social and leadership skills.

83 persons across all three countries participated in CFYR’s Social and Crime Prevention training during the program year. These participants were drawn mainly from the public sector, and they will replicate this training to youth leaders in the CFYR communities during the upcoming program year, contributing to results being measured under Outputs 2.1.1 and 2.2.2.

CFYR conducted training for Designated Interviewers in all three focus countries to use the adapted YSET assessment and commenced the YSET household interviews with youth during the quarter. This is the initial process to identify youth who are eligible for the family counseling intervention as part of CFYR’s secondary prevention activities. Household assessments will continue into the next quarter and will be followed by YSET assessments in schools that will commence early in the next quarter.

Based on extensive and vigorous discussions with the independent evaluator, Social Impact, the program is much closer to having a robust impact and performance evaluation design in place.

In support of other YES partners, CFYR participated in regional meetings sponsored by the USAID funded CARISECURE project, to review data protocols across the ESC region.

Table 2: Status Report on Activities Planned for Year One

Activities Status 1.1 Developing Community Violence Prevention (CVP) action In Progress research 1,2 Grants under Contracts In Progress 1.3 Rapid Assessment of Policy Environment In Progress10 1.4 Gender Assessments and Gender Update In Progress 1.5 Establish National Alliances/Advisory Board (NAB’s established Completed by USAID/ESC) Output 2.1: Target Community and Youth engaged in making decisions and participating in local solutions 2.1.1.a Data Collection and Community Selection Completed 2.1.1.b Identify and partner with anchor groups in each country to Ongoing provide mentorship and support capacity-building 2.1.2 Conduct baseline and victimization surveys in the target In Progress communities 2.1.3 Establish Community Enhancement Committees In Progress 2.1.4 Strengthen youth participation in community crime prevention Ongoing 2.1.5 Map community assets In Progress 2.1.6 Promoting youth participation in governance Ongoing 2.1.7 Making communities safer In Progress 2.1.8 Support knowledge sharing and learning In Progress Output 2.2: Target Community and Youth engaged in making decisions and participating in local solutions 2.2.1 YSET adaptation for use by family counselors and service In Progress providers 2.2.2 Conduct YSET-1 and family counseling, including training for In Progress11 family counselors 2.2.3 Strengthen organizations supporting family resilience In Progress 2.2.4 Support educational institutions in youth development In Progress initiatives

10 CFYR will continue to review policies on an as-needed basis to support program implementation. 11 YSET-I interviews commenced during the program year and family counselor training and the family counseling intervention will commence in Year 2.

2.2.5/2.3.3 Design youth worker certification to advance local Technical In Progress and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) capacity for working with at-risk youth 2.2.6 Strengthen the capacity of programs supporting under-age In Progress mothers Output 2.3: Positive Alternatives to Crime for Youth in Target Communities 2.3.1 Expand literacy and remedial education opportunities for In Progress primary prevention youth 2.3.2 Conduct labor market assessments for youth in target In Progress communities 2.3.4 Strengthen civic education and employability training for youth Delayed12 in target communities 2.3.5 Engage the private sector In Progress 2.3.6 Develop life plans with youth in target communities Delayed13 2.3.7 Policy dialogue on alternatives to incarceration Ongoing 2.3.8 Leveraging technology to support Positive Youth Development Not completed14 Output 2.4: Community-based Models and Solutions Documented and Shared 2.4.1 Form national and cross-national learning groups In Progress Output 3: Youth in Conflict with the Law Rehabilitated and Reintegrated into Society

Conduct initial scoping exercise for asset mapping Completed

2.1 Implementation Status

Output 2.1: Target Communities and Youth Engaged in Making Decisions about and Participating in Local Solutions

As part of CFYR’s community-driven model for implementation, the Program’s objective was to establish a comprehensive process to identify and select target communities in each of the three focus countries. This selection process also laid the groundwork to identify existing community leadership bodies or, where absent, support the establishment of new bodies, to assess community needs, and seek their engagement and support to identify and implement approaches to reduce violence in their communities.

Part of the first year’s work focused on establishing an evidence-based platform that will enable the local leadership bodies to understand what is happening within their communities around

12 This activity required the community asset map as a prerequisite. Activity implementation is therefore delayed until the second quarter of Year 2 13 These will be developed when the family counseling intervention commences. 14 Microsoft Youthworks revised its costing and model. Early in Year 2 CFYR will assess whether this is still appropriate/cost effective.

12 the issues of youth violence. Initial discussions with the Community Enhancement Committees (CECs) underpinned CFYR’s support to communities and youth in the next program year. These discussions also enabled CFYR to sensitize the broader community about the Program in its entirety, with all of the first-year activities serving to identify and empower youth to participate in solving the problems of their community. Results from the CFYR baseline victimization surveys and the asset mapping activities that will continue in Year 2 will support communities’ efforts to make informed decisions about the design and implementation of specific activities to increase youth and family resilience factors, as well as to strengthen community cohesion.

Activity 2.1.1.a Data Collection & Community Selection.

In October 2016, CFYR initiated a community selection process that employed an evidence- based, transparent data collection methodology to identify the communities most in need of, and receptive to, a place-based, public health approach to violence reduction. The process balanced the use of quantitative data and stakeholder feedback in four distinct stages, as Table 3 shows:

Table 3: The Four Phases of the Community Selection Process

Phase Approach 1. Quantitative Data Source relevant crime, population and socioeconomic data Analysis disaggregated by geographic boundaries and compute reported rates to establish a preliminary ranking of communities, produced exclusively from quantitative data. 2. Community Field Conduct field visits to communities and conduct key Assessments informant community interviews and focus groups with local residents to gather qualitative information about each of the communities to consider a feasible level of program implementation. 3. Government Stakeholder Convene government stakeholders, especially middle and Assessments upper-level managers from relevant agencies, to gather information about the relevant criminogenic features of the different communities using a structured questionnaire. 4. Final Community Combine the qualitative data for an updated ranking of Rankings communities suited for intervention, to be presented to each National Advisory Board for review and approval.

After reviewing available data in each focus country from national census, police, and detention facilities, among others, CFYR engaged in dialogues with representatives from communities, voluntary organizations and government agencies, including respective ministries for public safety, social protection, youth and health. CFYR collected this stakeholder feedback using surveys, interviews and focus group discussions. Arising from the data and stakeholder

13 meetings, CFYR distilled a list of five proposed communities for programming in each focus country that received consensus among national stakeholders in each country.

Figure 1: Roberto Obando, PADF Program Figure 2: Community members in a break out Director and CFYR Team Member, leading a session during the Community Field focus group with community members during Assessment Phase in Vieux Fort at the Vieux the Clendon Mason Memorial Secondary Fort Primary School in Saint Lucia on School in Dennery in Saint Lucia on November 30, 2016. November 28, 2016. CFYR Target Communities USAID presented the proposed list of communities to each country NAB, and each NAB provided unanimous approval for Saint Lucia CFYR to work in the designated communities.15 The • Anse La Raye completion of the community selection process in March 2017, • Central Castries enabled CFYR to begin implementation of several additional • Dennery • Soufrière activities for the remainder of the program year. • Vieux Fort

Activity 2.1.2 Conduct Baseline and Victimization Surveys in the 15 Guyana • Corriverton Target Communities. • East La Penitence • East Ruimveldt A crucial process in determining CFYR’s contribution to • Lodge violence reduction at the end of program implementation will • Sophia (fields C, D & E) be the benchmarking of current attitudes, experiences and behaviors of community members. Prior to commencing St. Kitts and Nevis intervention activities, CFYR undertook a Community Baseline • Cayon Survey (CBS) of representative samples of community residents • Basseterre from each of the five target communities in each focus country, • Bath • as well as one comparative community in each country. The CBS Rawlins • Sandy Point explored themes of victimization, community engagement and

15 The Saint Lucia NAB provided approval for the proposed Saint Lucia communities on March 14, 2017; the Guyana NAB provided approval on March 16, 2017, for the proposed Guyana communities; and the St. Kitts and Nevis NAB provided approval for the proposed St. Kitts and Nevis communities on March 21, 2017.

14 satisfaction levels with the delivery of public services, with age-appropriate questions designed for respondents aged 10 years and up. The CBS was also the first use of mobile tablets to collect community-level public safety data in the three CFYR focus countries. Using this technology provided CFYR with a strong capacity-building opportunity by engaging and training local government and NGO partners in data collection, namely the Department of Statistics in St. Kitts and Nevis, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) in Saint Lucia and Specialists in Sustained Youth Development and Research (SSYDR) in Guyana.

Across the 15 communities, the CBS targeted approximately 300 residents to be interviewed for an overall total of 4,500 respondents. The respective targets for Saint Lucia and Guyana were achieved, but the CBS in St. Kitts and Nevis remains in progress due to delays related to the passage of hurricanes Irma and Maria. The St. Kitts and Nevis survey exercise is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of the next program year, with the compiled report on the baseline survey findings from the three focus countries to follow shortly thereafter.

Activity 2.1.3 Community and Youth Engagement/Establish Community Enhancement Committees.

In the latter half of the program year, CFYR focused on establishing Community Enhancement Committees (CEC) in each community. The CECs are comprised of interested community residents, business owners who live within the community, representatives from faith-based organizations, government agencies and NGOs that serve the community. CFYR is strongly encouraging CECs to make youth representation a requirement among their membership. CFYR is working closely with the CECs in Soufrière (Saint Lucia) and East La Penitence (Guyana) to strengthen the leadership within those respective CECs. Bath and Rawlins, in Nevis, are in the final stages of establishing CECs and identifying community representatives to serve as executive members.

Table 4: Overview of the Status of the CECs across Focus Countries

# Country Community Status 16Total Total youth members members (10-29) M F M F 1 Guyana17 Corriverton Established; Executive members 4 2 3 2 elected; CEC Launched 2 East La Penitence Established; Executive elected 2 4 1 2 3 East Ruimveldt Established; Executive elected 1 6 1 1 4 Lodge Established; Executive elected 6 5 1 2 5 Sophia Established; Executive elected 9 10 7 10 6 Basseterre Executive not yet elected - - - -

16 Total members reflect persons who are part of the CEC Executive only. 17 The figures for Guyana reflected in this table are revised figures from earlier submissions following data verification checks.

7 St. Kitts Cayon Executive not yet elected - - - - 8 and SandyPoint Executive not yet elected - - - - 9 Nevis St. George Executive not yet elected - - - - Gingerland 10 St. John’s Figtree Executive not yet elected - - - - 11 Saint Anse La Raye Established; Executive elected 4 5 2 4 12 Lucia Central Castries Group formed/Elections not held 8 3 5 1 13 Dennery Group formed/Elections not held 6 1 3 0 14 Soufrière Executive not yet elected - - - - 15 Vieux Fort Established; Executive elected 1 6 1 1 41 42 24 23

The existing CECs have made a positive start to formalize their work, have elected an executive, and are conducting regular meetings, with an average of 11 persons in attendance at each meeting. An integral feature of these bodies is representation and participation of local youth leaders who serve to inform and advise on the needs, expectations and engagement of their peers.

Figure 3: Community representatives from the Soufriere CEC at the Soufriere Primary School in Saint Lucia on July 27, 2017.

CFYR is also in the process of working with the CECs to plan and deliver their first scheduled community engagement activities which are designed to introduce the CEC to the wider community. These activities will lay the groundwork for more coordinated community-level activities that will be articulated in Community Safety Plans (CSPs). The CSPs will outline a clear vision for the improved safety of the communities regarding crime and violence in general, as well as a set of well-defined, measurable objectives and activities required to successfully execute the Plans.

Given the strategic importance of the CECs to effective implementation of activities within the communities, CFYR has developed many support mechanisms to assist in their sustainable

16 development. CFYR is providing direct technical assistance to the CECs to develop their CSPs, with the first set of Plans scheduled for release by December 2017. CFYR will also deliver ongoing training courses that will be funded by CFYR grants to support organizational capacity development for the CECs. Training is expected to include effective community leadership, youth advocacy and project management.

Activity 2.1.5 Map Community Assets.

Digital community asset maps are being developed to document the tangible and cultural resources located in CFYR communities. This process is intended to facilitate youth connectedness as well as engage young people in the use of smart device technology for community development and security. Following a scoping exercise in May 2017 that involved a series of community-based youth consultations, CFYR created a 40-hour training curriculum to teach a cadre of approximately 65 youth from each focus country to map their respective communities over the next program year. The training, scheduled to begin in October 2017, also serves as an opportunity to develop soft skills among the youth, such as team building, as well as build their capacity to track changes within the communities during the second year of program implementation and beyond.

The community asset mapping data collection phase will be completed by the end of 2017 in Saint Lucia and Guyana, and early in 2018 in St. Kitts and Nevis, with all digital maps completed by March 2018. CFYR will upload the finished asset maps on a platform which enables real time access by community residents and members of the wider community. CFYR will train a small group of 10 to 15 youth from each focus country to manage and update the maps on a regular basis for their respective communities and the CECs will host a launch event to present the maps to the wider community to encourage local ownership. These maps will be central to CECs decision-making and problem-solving.

Activity 2.1.7 Making Communities Safer.

The presence of armed, intra-community conflict in specific CFYR target communities warranted a context-specific intervention to disrupt these conflicts and pave the way for comprehensive, community-wide interventions. Central Castries in Saint Lucia and Basseterre in St. Kitts are two particular CFYR target communities with recent history of youth violence which may be severe enough to limit or delay the implementation of primary prevention activities. During the program year CFYR explored the viability of introducing a Violence Interrupter Initiative (VI) to these areas. CFYR enlisted the Peace Management Initiative Jamaica (PMI) to participate as observers in a meeting organized in Castries on January 28, 2017, and to make recommendations to CFYR on ways to support the violence reduction efforts of the Saint Lucia non-government organization RISE in Central Castries. CFYR will determine what level of support can be provided to support this initiative in Saint Lucia.

Subsequent to this meeting, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security for St. Kitts and Nevis affirmed the fit of the VI concept with the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis’ 10-point Crime Strategy and requested that CFYR outline a program and budget for the Government to consider. As a result, CFYR led a scoping exercise from September 21 to 26, 2017, which was conducted by international experts including Progressive Firm (Cross Roads), Los Angeles, CA, Project Reason from Trinidad and Tobago and Peace Management Initiative, Jamaica. Gatekeepers and community leaders were identified from the respective CFYR communities to assist with the scoping. CFYR will re-engage with the Ministry of National Security in St. Kitts and Nevis early in the next program year to explore a possible collaboration to implement the initiative.

In addition to these program initiatives to improve community safety, CFYR completed a series of capacity-building activities with local stakeholders to enable them to understand and address violence within their communities. Between June and July 2017, 83 local stakeholders consisting of CEC members, civil servants and volunteers attended week-long Social Crime Prevention Training Workshops across the CFYR focus countries. These trainings, delivered by Creative’s consortium partner, Pan-American Development Foundation (PADF), were designed to increase understanding of social crime prevention and youth leadership.

During September 2017, CEC members and community residents from two communities in Guyana – Corriverton and Sophia – participated in one-day sensitization workshops to raise awareness of gender norms and how such norms contribute to gender-based violence, within the context of building safe and inclusive communities. A total of 38 persons participated in the workshops(26 females and 12 males). These workshops will continue across all communities in Year 2.

Output 2.2: Social Services, Systems and Networks Supporting At-risk and Victimized Youth are Strengthened

In all three focus countries, CFYR has established good working partnerships with a broad range of government agencies and community-based organizations that currently work with the Program’s target population. CFYR envisioned a collaborative model that leverages available resources, capacities and initiatives of local partners to promote sustainable programs. Our host government partners to implement the secondary prevention model are a clear example.

CFYR has already put in place strategies to increase the pace of collaborative support to local stakeholders in the next year of implementation, with several initiatives that commenced in Year 1 and will continue into the Year 2, such as administering the YSET-1, the training of family counselors and the development of youth work certification options.

Activity 2.2.1 YSET Adaptation for Use by Local Family Counselors and Service Providers.

CFYR began the adaptation process of the YSET in February 2017, by engaging with the team from the University of Southern California (USC) who developed the original YSET instrument. The USC team visited the three CFYR focus countries from May 28 to June 7, and in partnership with CFYR’s Secondary Prevention team members, co-convened nineteen focus group sessions with approximately 300 participants representing minors, their parents and community members to vet the YSET questions. Feedback from the focus group participants highlighted the importance of using local language Figure 4: Ms. Leslie Ann Berntsen, a member of and terminology, allowing the YSET questions to the YSET adaptation team from USC, engaging elicit accurate responses from respondents. The with youth from the Cayon community in St. focus groups also revealed the salience of critical life Kitts at the Cayon Football Club on June 3, 2017. incidents and trauma in understanding how youth cope with difficulties faced in their daily lives. Based on subsequent refinements to the instrument by the USC team, CFYR was able to pilot and finalize the YSET tool in August 2017.

Activity 2.2.2 Conduct YSET-1 and Family Counseling.

In order to strengthen the statistical power of the impact evaluation, CFYR increased the number of treatment and control youth in the first year of the family counseling model - Prevention and Intervention Family Systems Model (PIFSM) - to allow Social Impact (SI) greater confidence in the generalizability of its findings. The new target to assess 5,500 youth in the first year represents nearly three times the number of youth that CFYR had initially planned for the first-year cohort.

CFYR contracted with and trained local entities in Guyana (August 4), Saint Lucia (August 7) and St. Kitts and Nevis (August 8) to deliver the first wave of YSET surveys (YSET-I). In each instance, the training was delivered collaboratively by Creative and SI personnel. The lead facilitator was the YSET and PIFSM subject matter expert from the USAID-funded Proponte Más Program, which is implemented by Creative in Honduras. A total of 51 attendees completed training as designated interviewers.

CFYR began YSET household assessments in August 2017. The household assessments are aimed at identifying youth within the eligible age range (10 - 17) who may not attend school. To date, 506 youth have been assessed across the three countries using the YSET instrument. This amount represents 10% of the total youth targeted for both household and school assessments

19 across all three focus countries, with an overall response rate of 24% based on the number of households visited. CFYR is gathering data from schools that serve CFYR communities and will commence YSET assessments in schools in October.

CFYR’s initial review of the household response rate indicates a lower than expected number of households with eligible children in all three focus countries, as well as higher rates of caregivers not willing to provide consent for their child to be assessed. In St. Kitts and Nevis, some caregivers have expressed concern about providing contact information for the family as one reason for not providing consent.

Table 5: Status of YSET-1 Implementation at end of Reporting Period

Focus Country Number of YSET-1 Percent Completed Assessments Guyana 251 10% Saint Lucia 252 13% St. Kitts and Nevis 318 .03%

CFYR reached agreements with the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, through its Ministry of Community Development, Gender Affairs and Social Services, Counseling Unit to employ and house eight family counselors to support implementation of the PIFSM. In Saint Lucia, the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports, Culture and Local Government agreed to employ and house 20 family counselors, and in Guyana, the Ministry of Social Protection agreed to employ and house 17 family counselors. Recruitment of family counselors across the three countries is scheduled for October, with training of the shortlisted candidates set to occur between November and early December.

Activity 2.2.3 Strengthen Organizations Supporting Family Resilience.

CFYR recognizes that the PIFSM approach to secondary prevention is completely new for many ESC service providers. CFYR is ensuring that sufficient grant funding is set aside for capacity- building, with a focus on providing family counseling using the PIFSM model. In addition, the secondary prevention team in Guyana has initiated a quarterly inter-agency network meeting to bring together service providers that support at-risk youth and their families. The meeting provides a forum in which youth-serving organizations can share information, updates and

18 Two major hurricanes, Irma and Maria, severely affected opportunities in St. Kitts and Nevis for household assessments to be completed within the scheduled timeframes. CFYR is also trying to obtain maps for Nevis areas that will provide sufficient information on household locations.

20 lessons learned with counterparts, and an opportunity for the CECs to provide feedback from their communities and learn about services available to youth and their families.

CFYR also provided a grant to Guyana’s Ministry of Education in September to support the Ministry’s outreach programs in sexual and reproductive health, which includes a focus on gender norms and GBV19. This grant has been used to develop a curriculum and train 44 Youth Educators who, throughout the 2017 academic year, will deliver training for Grades 5 and 9 students in 13 schools that include CFYR’s target communities. The training will promote gender equality and human dignity, raise awareness of gender norms and ways in which such norms can contribute to gender-related violence and increased incidence of HIV infection among in-school youth.

Output 2.3: Positive Alternatives to Crime for Youth in Target Communities

CFYR is developing a youth opportunity strategy for each focus country to provide positive alternatives for youth in target communities, drawing initially from stakeholder feedback during CFYR’s work in November 2016 and February 2017. With the community selection process completed in March 2017, CFYR was able to begin implementation of activities to support youth from target communities. CFYR provided support to educational and correctional institutions, as partners in positive youth diversion, with five grants to local partners in the amount of USD $285,00020. The grants include recreational activities for youth during the summer period and the provision of advanced learning technologies for under-served students. As the Program had completed work on each youth opportunity strategy before CFYR communities were confirmed, CFYR put in place plans to update each strategy to incorporate specific needs of at-risk youth from the target communities. These updated strategies will be completed early in Year 2 and will enable Program staff to accelerate implementation on workforce development activities to support CFYR at-risk youth.

Activity 2.3.2 Conduct Labor Market Assessments for Youth in Target Communities.

Initial discussions with private sector actors highlighted the need for at-risk youth to demonstrate improved soft skills in the workplace, such as communication, inter-personal skills and stress management. In response, CFYR worked over the course of the year to identify and adapt a suitable training curriculum to be implemented by local partners in the three focus countries. CFYR selected the Basic Life and Employability Skills (BLES) Program as the ideal curriculum for CFYR youth in Saint Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis. Developed and used by the USAID-funded Kari Yu project in Suriname, the curriculum is designed to provide life skills, technical and vocational education and training to youth who are at-risk of dropping out of the educational system, as well as for youth who have been in conflict with the law.

19 CFYR has incorporated similar activities in Saint Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis in the Year 2 Work Plan. 20 Please see Annex 1 for information about grants issued during the program year.

In June 2017, a panel of local experts was convened in St. Kitts, including stakeholders from the Ministry of Education, Department of Youth, civil society, faith-based and sports organizations. After careful review of all modules and methodologies, the panel agreed on a revised training document for future BLES training. This paved the way for subsequent delivery of a ‘train the trainers’ module, which took place in July 2017. An initial group of eight participants, six from St. Kitts and two from Saint Lucia, were trained to deliver the adapted curriculum. CFYR will be highlighting the business-ownership module within the BLES curriculum for youth who may be more oriented to self-employment.

In Guyana, CFYR will use the Work Ready Plus! program which is a basic life skills training program that was developed and applied under the USAID/ESC SKYE program, to prepare youth in Guyana to enter the workforce.

Activity 2.3.6 Develop Life Plans with Youth in Target Communities.

During July and August 2017, the CFYR program funded a total of 12 summer camps in Guyana and Saint Lucia, reaching a combined total of 527 persons. In Saint Lucia, the Department of Social Transformation within the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports, Culture and Local Government, conducted seven camps for 273 attendees. Participants were engaged in a three-week program of positive youth development activities including life-skills training, field trips, creative arts and emotional development sessions. These camps were located in Castries Central, Upper and Lower Soufrière, Anse La Raye and Vieux Fort North. Camp administrators highlighted the importance of these camps to promote behavior change as the initial week of activities was punctuated by fights among the participants, disruption of sessions due to unruly behavior and lack of respect for property of the state. However, through the committed work of the administrators and facilitators these incidents were eliminated by the end of the camps’ activities.

CFYR also provided financial support to a summer camp in Saint Lucia hosted by the Vieux Fort Probation office in Vieux Fort South. This project worked to enhance the employment, creative, personal and social skill sets of 16 at-risk participants, while fostering greater social cohesion. In addition to formal training, the participants also produced and starred in a documentary. Generally, an evaluation of the camp experience showed that participants had mixed views in terms of the presentations they enjoyed and gained the most from. While participants shared a dislike for the unruly behavior of some of the other participants, they greatly enjoyed the provision of refreshments, opportunities to make new friends and the activities they were engaged with. In particular, the artistic aspect of the camp afforded participants the opportunity to become more reflective and attentive, as they had to retain and understand prior information in order to produce their art pieces.

Figure 5: Youth from the community of Figure 6: Youth from community of Lodge Soufriere taking steel drum music lessons at engaging in arts and crafts lessons at the Guyana Ministry of Education Summer Camp the Saint Lucia Department of Social held at Lodge Secondary School on August Transformation Summer Camp held at the 18, 2017. Soufriere Primary School on August 9, 2017. The Youth Department in Guyana’s Ministry of Education engaged 254 youth from the five CFYR target communities in a Youth Camp project over a four-week period from July 24 to August 25, 2017. The Youth Camp focused on building youth self-efficacy and resiliency while fostering an appreciation for cultural heritage through peer interaction and community action.

Activity 2.3.7 Youth Policy Dialogues.

To further strengthen understanding and approaches to Topics for Youth Policy Dialogue achieve positive outcomes for youth in CFYR target “What are the implications of community communities, CFYR conducted five youth policy stigmatization on the youth of high crime dialogues in St. Kitts and Nevis over the summer period, communities”; with one of the dialogues facilitated at Her Majesty’s “Living an independent life as a young Prison. Ninety-three (93) young persons from the person with a disability”; communities participated in the dialogues, which were facilitated by graduates of the Social Crime Prevention “Understanding the youth perspective on training. the impact of the music they consume”;

“Is the alleged Male Marginalization Further youth policy dialogues are planned in both society-driven or self-imposed?”; Guyana and Saint Lucia early in the next quarter. These dialogues are designed to be held quarterly within each “Recidivism – Examining the Fueling community in the lead-up to national youth policy Factors, Identifying Strategic Solutions”. dialogues scheduled for June and July 2018.

Activity 2.3.8 Leveraging Technology to Support Positive Youth Development.

In September, CFYR formalized a partnership with the Department of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development (DEIGR) in Saint Lucia to develop and deliver a computer coding curriculum for approximately 240 students in four secondary schools within CFYR target communities. During the program year, CFYR conducted an intensive training

23 exercise for seven teachers and two student volunteers in coding and robotics, including the development of the curriculum to train students over a one-year period.

Figure 7: Creative’s Program Associate, Kolja Wohlleben (Background, left), explaining a robotics programming solution to teachers from Vieux Fort Secondary School in Saint Lucia on August 7, 2017.

The curriculum is intended to keep students engaged in formal education and provide them with a usable skill upon graduation. To this end, the activity is expected to contribute to Indicator 2.3.0.2 – Percent of youth who report increased self-efficacy at the conclusion of USG assisted training/programming.

CFYR will provide grant funding to the DEIGR in Saint Lucia to deliver the school pilot in the next program year.

Output 2.4: Community-Based Models and Solutions Documented and Shared

Activity 2.4.1 Form National and Cross-national Learning Groups and Introduce Partners to Best Practice Approaches.

During the first half of the reporting period, CFYR planned and executed a number of introductory workshops to sensitize stakeholders on program goals and opportunities for partnership in support of CFYR program objectives. On May 25, 2017, CFYR organized a Stakeholders Forum in Nevis for 51 participants to provide an overview of the CFYR program and forge partnerships with entities that will support the implementation of community

24 programs. A number of government and voluntary agencies were represented, including the Ministry of Community Development, the Guidance Counselor Network and the Department of Youth’s Community Nurses Unit.

Following on the forum in Nevis, CFYR conducted a Networking and Informational Forum in Guyana on May 31, 2017, attended by 33 persons from a cross section of approximately 20 NGOs, state agencies, faith-based organizations and community-based organizations. CFYR presented an overview of the program and identified opportunities for partnership between the agencies and CFYR. Based on the meeting, a number of attendees became participants in the Social Crime Prevention Training in Guyana.

CFYR also worked during this time to increase synergies with other USAID YES Project implementing partners. On June 23, CFYR met with the Director of the Juvenile Justice Reform Program (JJRP), implemented by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, to discuss CFYR’s family intervention program planning. The discussion raised the opportunity for joint training for JJRP and CFYR family support officers. It also clarified the key tertiary agencies JJRP will be working with to ensure coordination of community programming across both programs and to support transition of incarcerated youth back into their communities. Further collaboration for the YES implementing partners was conducted as members of the monitoring and evaluation units of the respective partners, including UNDP’s CARISECURE program, co-presented on the linkages across YES program activities and the larger YES Results Framework at the regional partner meeting on June 30, 2017 in Barbados.

In keeping with the CFYR project proposal, CFYR has made progress toward establishing a Learning Network for partners and collaborators to foster learning on regional youth development and violence reduction policy. The Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) of the University of the West Indies has approached CFYR for support to strengthen its position as a regional hub for policy research on youth crime, violence and development. CFYR is moving forward to support SALISES to implement an ‘Executive Sessions’ model. The model offers an appropriate forum for practitioners, academia and other interested parties to discuss, topics relating to youth crime and violence that warrant special treatment, from a research and policy development approach. CFYR is working with SALISES to plan and conduct interdisciplinary research aimed at systematically advancing the evidence base for policies, programs and projects in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean on these topics.

SALISES has proposed to serve as the convener of Executive Sessions two times per year over the course of two years to actively address key aspects of the CFYR learning agenda. This includes conducting research and piloting policy innovations on the place-based, public health model, to add to the existing regional literature on youth crime and violence through peer- reviewed articles, video documentaries and policy briefs to senior government officials. CFYR sees great potential in this approach to address knowledge gaps, both for CFYR, and as a way

25 to support other initiatives to effectively reduce youth violence throughout the wider Caribbean region.

The initial research ideas for the learning agenda include examining the viability of the Public Health – Place-based Strategy (PHPBS) model to produce effective interventions in the region; describing the structural, situational and individual factors that spur the uptake of policy- relevant research among regional policymakers; and identifying the human, financial and political resources needed to sustain positive outcomes from prevention initiatives. The complete learning agenda will evolve from discussions among the dynamic, cross-disciplinary group of participants and, toward this end, CFYR has invited representatives from key organizations such as the UNDP and the Caribbean Regional Youth Council to join a brainstorming group to determine what initial issues the sessions will consider. The group has already met twice virtually over the course of the second half of the year and CFYR expects to receive a proposal from SALISES in the first quarter of Year 2, to facilitate the First Executive Session scheduled for February 2018.

Output 3: Youth in Conflict with the Law Rehabilitated and Reintegrated into Society

CFYR will also be working with juvenile justice authorities in Guyana21 to improve the re-entry of youth in conflict with the law into CFYR target communities and also support diversion and alternative sentencing as part of efforts to reform the juvenile justice system in Guyana. CFYR commenced its institutional strengthening work in juvenile justice reform (JJR) during the second quarter by undertaking an initial assessment of the juvenile justice system in Guyana. The assessment included a literature review, and dialogue with government officials, civil society, international development partners, and other relevant stakeholders, to outline a list of implementation activities that CFYR will incorporate over the four-year program period.

CFYR submitted the assessment to USAID in March 2017, and CFYR conducted further visits to Guyana to provide additional information and more specific data to strengthen some of the positions and recommendations that CFYR included. CFYR is finalizing the updated report and has incorporated many activities in the Year 2 Work Plan to address several immediate opportunities to improve how juveniles are handled by the government system.

3. MANAGEMENT, ADMINISTRATIVE & OTHER OPERATIONAL ISSUES

The CFYR Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for Guyana travelled to Creative’s headquarters to participate in the LogAlto Database Training Workshop from April 10 to 14, 2017. The LogAlto database is being designed to serve the day-

21 The CFYR task order also included select assistance for juvenile justice activities in Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and Barbados. CFYR has received guidance from USAID/ESC that the program should delay juvenile justice reform activities in these locations.

26 to-day data needs of CFYR, allowing staff to manage beneficiaries’ data, monitor implementation of work plan activities and track program performance based on the Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) indicators. The customized version of the database for CFYR is scheduled to be ready for beta-testing by October 2017.

The CFYR Operations team advanced its regional procurement strategy by issuing a general expression of interest (EoI) to prospective vendors for all three CFYR focus countries. As a result of work planning sessions, the Operations team designed a procurement plan to align with implementation activities. The strategy will enable CFYR to identify a range of vendors who can provide goods and services that CFYR may require over the life of the program including office supplies, ICT equipment, printing, catering services, venue rental and craft supplies to support summer camps, after-school programs and other CFYR activities. The novelty of this practice in the ESC region contributed to a very poor response from regional vendors. Due to the lack of responses to the EoI, CFYR plans to utilize requests for quotations at an increased rate in the immediate future, which will allow vendors to become more familiar with the Program and for CFYR to populate the vendor database that will help streamline the procurement process going forward.

Creative Headquarters also strengthened field office staff capacity in USAID procurement requirements and processes. Headquarters’ Senior Procurement Manager provided procurement training to all program and operations teams between June 11 to June 24, 2017. CFYR’s new Deputy Chief of Party, Operations, assumed his full-time role in the field, effective July 3, 2017.

Further operations activities included the updating and tagging of all CFYR inventory for all three country offices. The Saint Lucia and Guyana offices completed the installation of PABX and video-conferencing equipment. Equipment will be installed in St. Kitts after new office space has been identified.

To further strengthen field office operations, CFYR’s Operations Managers for St. Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia participated in a regional training in Honduras in September 2017, organized by Creative Headquarters. The training engaged operations, finance, procurement and grants team members from the Caribbean and Central America and provided extensive training on procurement, with special emphasis on procurement planning.

4. LESSONS LEARNED a. Administration and Start-Up - CFYR experienced slower than expected program start-up due to extended time frames to complete legal registration in all three countries. The delayed start-up was also due to the need to conduct a regional survey to establish local compensation plans to provide host country and regional employees with a package that was competitive with other employers in the region. This latter issue contributed to slower

than expected hiring across the multiple country locations. Despite these issues, CFYR successfully executed three YES launches on behalf of USAID/ESC in the YES focus countries. Future programs should anticipate longer start-up phases, particularly when operating in multiple country locations. b. Community Selection - The time and staffing required to complete the community selection process also exceeded initial time frames. One aspect of this involved the delayed receipt of official data in St. Kitts and Nevis, and the need to access additional data in Guyana. The need for additional data arose in Guyana when CFYR received guidance from USAID/ESC and the Government of Guyana that CFYR should consider only those communities not receiving support under the IDB-funded Citizen Security Strengthening Program (CSSP). This entailed CFYR obtaining data from a wider range of government agencies to determine appropriate communities for intervention, as the 32 communities ranked as the highest for intervention, based on census data, were excluded for consideration. In December 2016, CFYR was asked by USAID to also consider qualitative data in the community selection process. During December 2016 and January 2017, CFYR conducted a series of focus groups and key informant interviews with community members, non-government organizations and mid-level government representatives, to arrive at the recommended CFYR communities in each focus country. c. Leahy Amendment Restrictions - Due to Leahy Amendment issues in Saint Lucia, CFYR is unable to provide funding or training to the police and security forces. This has an impact on implementing programs to strengthen positive interaction between youth, communities and the police, and also prevents including the police in any training that CFYR conducts, including Social Crime Prevention Training, which would usually include community and police participants. Including the police and security forces in activities to improve relationships with citizens are a critical aspect of programs such as CFYR and not being able to support these activities may have an impact on behaviors and perceptions of citizens in CFYR communities, as well as the police. d. Innovation and Piloting - CFYR’s work to deliver ‘proofs of concept’ and innovative technologies to regional stakeholders interested in place-based, public health models has demonstrated the importance of relationship-building and piloting. CFYR recognized the sensitivities surrounding being an external actor operating in contexts where institutions and local actors have established systems, norms and partnerships for addressing community violence and youth delinquency. The Program is gaining the confidence of its new partners given CFYR’s willingness to support pre-existing approaches, while also ushering in new thinking and systems. The combination of a need for additional scoping exercises, piloting of data collection activities prior to full implementation, and the hosting of broad-based stakeholder reviews and dialogue, has shifted the timelines for several activities that would have been otherwise implemented according to schedule. CFYR

considers the additional time as an important investment in stakeholder relationships that will increase sustainability beyond the Program’s implementation period. e. Grants and Capacity - CFYR has already begun work with host government and NGO representatives in all three focus countries to strengthen capacity to develop strong grant proposals. It is not unusual that organizations unfamiliar with USAID grant processes would require training to meet USAID grant submission requirements, and capacity building in this area is noted as a greater need in Saint Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis, where USAID has not operated on a wide-scale basis. The CFYR grants team has already begun working with partners in all three countries. To further support capacity building, CFYR will organize a proposal-writing workshop in early 2018, to help potential applicants develop project concepts and formulate a full-fledged proposal. Similar training is planned for CECs to support their ability to apply for CFYR grants to implement community activities. f. Juvenile Justice Reform - In support of juvenile justice in Guyana, further coordination and commitment will be required from institutional partners in Guyana to undertake the operational and institutional reforms needed to effect real change. CFYR will also coordinate closely with the OECS Commission to support integration of their activities on the Juvenile Justice Reform II project with CFYR activities in Saint Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis. g. Violence in Communities - Several times during the program year CFYR communities were affected by violence and this may have an impact on future program implementation. Issues of woundings, shootings and murders, mostly attributed to inter-group rivalries, present security risks for residents and CFYR staff, and also reduce residents’ ability and/or interest to participate in a new program (CFYR) that may be perceived to be ’outside’ or in conflict with community interests. In May 2017, Castries Central proved a challenging locale for mobilizing community members due to the ongoing youth violence between Grass Street and Marchand. Similarly, residents in CFYR’s focus communities in Nevis have reported their unwillingness to attend meetings convened by CFYR for fear of victimization from criminal elements in adjoining communities. CFYR will assess these situations on a case-by- case basis and will adapt to any potential decline in the willingness of residents to participate in CECs, YSET testing or other relevant programming. h. Weather Events - Hurricanes and tropical storms continue to have an impact on program implementation, as demonstrated by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017 and Tropical Storm Matthew in 2016. Irma and Maria delayed implementation of CFYR’s baseline community survey and YSET household interviews in St. Kitts and Nevis. i. Impact Evaluation - A final lesson to mention for this reporting period concerns the staff time to support requirements of the impact evaluation. CFYR reviewed and provided input on a number of evaluation designs, prepared protocols to support YSET evaluations and

responded to many inquiries for general data and information regarding program implementation. This included hosting a two-day visit in May to further develop the CFYR impact evaluation design. All of these interactions were ultimately helpful for both parties, and CFYR endeavored to be responsive to a number of impromptu requests that required substantial staff time.

As a result, CFYR explored mechanisms to streamline these interactions, which culminated in a procurement to engage an academic research partner with experience working in both the technical area and in the Caribbean region to support future engagements with SI. This academic partner will serve multiple functions, including providing an additional layer of validation to the work that the University of Southern California performs with CFYR, supporting the learning of CFYR, SI and regional stakeholders on the secondary prevention model and assisting CFYR to frame data and information for the impact evaluators. CFYR anticipates the contract with the academic partner will be finalized early in the new program year.

For future program designs, it will be extremely valuable to include in the project solicitation document the indicative levels of staffing and resources that an implementing partner may need to dedicate to effectively support an extensive impact evaluation.

5. PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT QUARTER INCLUDING UPCOMING EVENTS

Table 6: Planned Activities for Upcoming Quarter

Activity Activity Timeline USG Type Involvement Output 2.1: Target communities and youth engaged in making decisions about and participating in local solutions Local Facilitate elections for CECs in the By end of No Governance remaining six CFYR target communities December and formalize establishment of the committees Community Work with active CECs to host their first By end of No Engagement community outreach initiatives December Data Complete Phase 2 of Community Asset By end of No Collection Mapping activity22 January23

22 Additional information about this activity is included in Activity 2.1.5 on page 18 of this report. 23 Phase 2 will be completed by early December in Saint Lucia and Guyana, and by end of January in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Data Complete Community Baseline Survey By end of No Collection Data Collection in St. Kitts and Nevis December Local Complete five Community Safety Plans in By end of No Governance Saint Lucia November24 Local Explore viability of the Violence By end of No Governance Interrupter Initiative in St. Kitts and Nevis October and Central Castries25 Output 2.2: Social services, systems and networks supporting at-risk and victimized youth are strengthened Data Conduct YSET mass assessments in three By end of No Collection focus territories November Family Hire and train Family Counselors to By early No Systems provide support for at-risk youths and December Intervention their families Family Secure government partner agreements By end of No Systems for the institutionalization of Family October Intervention Counselors Impact Secure academic partner as liaison for By end of No Evaluation independent evaluator November Output 2.3 Positive Alternatives to Crime for Youth in Target Communities Workforce Roll-out of request for Applications for By end of No Readiness workforce development activities in all October three countries Workforce Recruitment of career coaches to mentor By end of No Readiness and support participants in workforce November development activities Capacity Roll-out coding curriculum pilot in four (4) By early No Building secondary schools in Saint Lucia November Output 2.4: Community-Based Models and Solutions documented and shared Knowledge Work with SALISES to finalize terms for a By end of No Sharing fixed amount award proposal November Data Finalize proposal for and execute Youth By end of No Collection Safety Survey December Output 3: Youth in Conflict with the Law Rehabilitated and Reintegrated into Society Staffing Recruit Juvenile Justice Reform Lead Early No December

24 Community Safety Plans will be completed in Guyana and St. Kitts in Nevis in January 2018, with work starting in the first quarter of Year 2. 25 CFYR will have discussions with Government of St. Kitts and Nevis representatives and Government of Saint Lucia representatives to confirm their interest to proceed.

6. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Obligations and Current and Projected Expenditures.

Details on obligations versus expenditure are displayed in Chart 1, below.

In accord with Task Order requirements, CFYR submitted notification to USAID/ESC during the July – September 2017, quarter that Program expenditures would reach 75 percent of current obligated funds.

Chart 1: Obligation versus Expenditure Pipeline

Obligation vs Expenditure Pipeline

25,000,000

20,000,000 3,680,047 FY18 Q4

3,448,421 FY18 Q3 15,000,000 FY18 Q2 3,436,950 FY18 Q1 ITD Sep 2017 10,000,000 3,428,142 Obligation 12,924,041

5,000,000 6,056,046

- Obligation Expenditure Pipeline

ANNEX 1: GRANTS

Grant Awards for the Period October 2016 to September 2017 Date Country Submitted Name of Purpose of Proposed Status Amount Amount Received By Applicant/Organization Request Period of Requested Awarded Execution USD USD 04.26.17 Saint Yolanda Department of Probation Probation Summer July 10th to July Grant Lucia Jules-Louis and Parole Services Camp 28th 2017 Completed 26,590.30 26,590.30 06.01.17 Saint Donovan Ministry of Equity Youth Summer Camp July 31st to Grant 62,492.56 62,492.56 Lucia Williams August 7th 2017 Completed 06.03.17 Saint Edwin St. Central Statistics Office Community Baseline March 23rd to Grant 31,730.00 31,730 Lucia Catherine survey July 23rd 2017 Completed 06.16.17 Saint Allison Jean Ministry of Education, Coding & Robotics September 29th Awarded 125,155.57 125,156 Lucia Innovation, Gender Project 2017 to Relations and Sustainable September 29th Development 2018 04.26.17 Guyana Magda Specialists in sustained Community Baseline June 12th to Awarded 39,133.00 39,133.00 Fiona Wills Youth Development and survey August 11, 2017 Research Inc 06.14.17 Guyana Melissa Ministry of Education, Youth Summer Camp July 31st to Awarded 104,743.00 62,934.00 Carmichael Department of Youth August 25th 2017 06.13.17 Guyana Janelle Ministry of Education, YES Volunteer Sexual September 2017 Awarded 13,916.00 13,916.00 Sweatnam School Health, Nutrition & Health, to July 2018 HIV/AIDS Unit STI/HIV&AIDS Training 04.27.17 St. Kitts Carlton Department of Statistics Community Baseline June 19th to Awarded 45,632.16 35,283.36 & Nevis Phipps survey September 19th 2017 Total Funding Requested 449,392.59 Total Awarded 397,234.79