Youth, Education, and Recreation Issues in Ladyville, Belize Melissa Garside Vancouver Island University VIU Geography Belize Field School 2014 Professors Macfarlane, Wolfe, and Shaw August, 2014 YOUTH, EDUCATION, AND RECREATION ISSUES IN LADYVILLE 2 Youth, Education, and Recreation Issues in Ladyville Melissa Garside Melissa Garside is a Geography major and Global Studies minor student at Vancouver Island University (VIU). She will be entering her final year of studies in the fall of 2014. As part of her studies, Melissa has taken courses on urban and physical geography, globalization, community planning, political studies, anthropology, and women’s studies. She has both volunteer and paid work experience in community planning and public engagement through projects such as the 2014 Campbellton Neighbourhood Action Plan, the Toquaht Nation Official Community Plan, the Victoria Harbour Dialogues Ideas Forum, the Downtown Nanaimo Waterfront Ideas Forum, and more. Additionally, upon completion of high school she spent six months volunteering full time through the Katimavik youth volunteer program which instilled in her an interest in community development, youth empowerment, and programming youth recreation. Abstract Youth, education, and recreation in the village of Ladyville, Belize is the topic of this report which was compiled through both academic research and field work completed in Ladyville. This report offers background research on this topic in the potential issues section, and then goes on to outline and evaluate the facilities and services applicable to the topic of youth, education and recreation that currently exist in Ladyville. The key findings of the field research are that although there are already several schools and youth programs and recreational facilities in Ladyville, these could be expanded upon in order to serve the community more wholly towards a more socially sustainable future for Ladyville. To address the issues identified in this report, a number of options for consideration are also described in order to assist the citizens of Ladyville in achieving positive change for their community. 1.0 Introduction This paper considers the issues and options relating to the schools, youth, and recreation in Ladyville. The current array of services is presented first, followed by a gap analysis and options for the Ladyville Village Council and the local community to consider. Youth are a very important cohort of the population in Belize, with 60% of Belize’s population under the age of 19 (Interpeace, 2012, p. 15), and 70% of the population under the age of 35 (Government of Belize & Unicef, 2012, p. v). In Ladyville, the proportional share of youth under 19 is slightly lower at approximately 41% of the total population in 2010: this is still a large segment of the population and the availability of services to this cohort is a critical issue (Statistical Institute of Belize, 2010). With such a young population, focusing on the success of Ladyville’s youth through improvements to school programs, afterschool activities, and healthy recreational opportunities (which all residents of Ladyville can benefit from) will have important outcomes for the country’s future. Communities need to have educational opportunities for youth as well as for the entire community. The extent to which educational opportunities are available within the local community, including quality educational opportunities, will play a role in school completion rates, skill development, and employment potential. Communities that offer a range of educational opportunities (including traditional academic curriculum as well as technical and other programs) will be more able to meet the diverse needs of youth and others. Continuing education opportunities also allow for ongoing skills development for youth and other community members. Recreational programs for youth, and indeed for the community as a whole, are very important for community planning. Access to an array of community events and activities brings the community together, promotes the development of new skills and opportunities and increases quality of life for participants. Sports are a particularly important recreational activity in Ladyville, and Lower, Turner and Petersen (2013) point out that “Sport remains a source of personal and social entertainment, but the YOUTH, EDUCATION, AND RECREATION ISSUES IN LADYVILLE 3 psychological and physical health benefits associated with participation have become more important” as people’s lifestyles have become less active (p. 66). When planning for recreational and educational opportunities within a community, one needs to understand population size and trends, existing services and gaps in services, and physical attributes such as location and access. The location of schools and other educational facilities is an important consideration for ensuring accessibility and safety for students so that they can get as much out of their education as possible. Likewise, recreational facilities should be in places where they are accessible to as many people as possible who can benefit from those facilities. Schools, youth, and recreation in Ladyville is a topic of interest and significance because there are a lot of youth in Ladyville, and Ladyville has great potential to move towards being a community which boasts some of the best schools, youth programs, and recreational facilities in Belize. The key stakeholders that may be affected by this analysis are youth, students, teachers, parents of youth, and residents of Ladyville who use recreational facilities, or who would if additional facilities were developed. The objectives of this work are to analyze the following issues: x Education opportunities and options x Existing school facilities and options x Existing recreational facilities and options x Existing after­school programs for youth in Ladyville and how they might be expanded upon x What the existing opportunities for youth are in Ladyville and how they might be expanded upon This report will be provided to the Ladyville Village Council, and may also be of interest to the Government of Belize, and other readers who are interested in positive change in Ladyville. 2.0 Potential Issues Belize is a relatively young nation, having become independent in 1981. Belize is still working hard towards further development initiatives (Government of Belize, & UNICEF, 2004, p. 5). With such a large youth population, there are many potential issues that come to mind when exploring Ladyville, Belize in terms of youth, education, and recreation. These issues are addressed below. 2.1 Potential Youth Issues There has been a substantial amount of research on how to better engage youth and encourage youth participation. It is evident through this large body of reports and research that more than ever before, the world is recognising the importance of working to help youth to realize their full potential in life. Youth form an important aspect of the potential for current and future development initiatives. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2010) notes that “The UN has long recognized that young people are a major human resource for development and key agents for social change, economic growth and technological innovation” (p. 8). Indeed, increasing youth involvement in both developed and developing nations is important, and communities must allow for, encourage, and develop opportunities for youth involvement in their community in order for youth to effectively become involved. Mullahey, Susskind, and Checkoway (1999) note that “actively involving children and youth in real community projects rather than in classroom simulations provides learning experiences that enhance the capacity of students to forge solutions to real world problems” (p. 6). Mullahey, Susskind, and Checkoway (1999) also explain that different youth have different types of intelligence and different competencies to offer in their community involvement, and that these varying strengths must be recognized and embraced: Diversity and inclusiveness are key strategies in designing opportunities for interaction and participation. Diversity has value and adds value as young people (or adults for that matter) with different competencies, YOUTH, EDUCATION, AND RECREATION ISSUES IN LADYVILLE 4 experiences, beliefs, and knowledge brought together in constructive ways can bring their various perspectives to innovate solutions imagining a shared future and a commitment to the common good. (p. 7) Along with different competencies and interests comes the necessity for a varied range of avenues for youth participation. Accordingly, Saito and Sullivan (2011) describe four distinct types of youth participation activities: participation, in which youth participate in different types of activities which offer them opportunities to “connect with positive people and places” and take part in challenges which foster development and growth; passion, in which youth are involved in an activity that they are passionate about and that they can concentrate on with enthusiasm; voice, in which youth’s voices are heard and they have the opportunity to have inputs on things which affect them; and collective action, in which “youth and adults share decision­making authority . to achieve shared goals . and/or . change or create new systems” (p. 113). Saito and Sullivan (2011) note that over time, youth engagement has been referred to by different names, including “youth leadership, civic engagement,