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CYP Youth Development graduates attend ceremony

28 September 2007

Vanuatu graduation ceremony for the Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Pride, happiness and satisfaction was written all over the faces of the first group of Ni Vanuatu youth development worker graduates on Friday night when they received their Diploma in Youth Development Work certificates from the Vanuatu Minister of Education, Hon. Leinavau Tasso and the Regional Director of the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) South Pacific Centre, Ms. Afu Billy.

The graduates spent two years to complete the 14 module diploma course that the CYP South Pacific Centre offers in the region through four partner institutions through distance learning. The course was delivered by the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva.

The Vanuatu graduates now join a group of Ghanaian youths who, two months ago, celebrated their successful completion of the CYP Diploma in Youth Development Work course as part of the work of the CYP Africa Regional Centre including many other youths and youth development workers worldwide who have also undertaken this course throughout the four CYP Regional Centres.

Present at the graduation ceremony was the Course Coordinator from USP, Ms. Vivian Koster who congratulated the Vanuatu graduates on their fine achievement. This sentiment was also echoed by the USP Vanuatu Centre Director, Mr. Jean Pierre Nirua, and CYP Programme Manager responsible for the YWET programme at the South Pacific Centre, Mr Sushil Ram who also spoke during the graduation.

The Vanuatu Minister of Education Hon Tasso congratulated the graduates for their achievement and urged them to provide the effective leadership to the youth in their communities. She thanked the CYP for its commitment to the region and to the empowerment and development of the young pacific Islanders. She assured the Government of Vanuatu's continued partnership with the CYP in the development of young people. She noted that apart from the graduation, the CYP in partnership with UNDP and the Ministry of Youth Development and Training are conducting a Retail Skills Training Workshop for young Ni-Vanuatu entrepreneurs in August and there are plans for further assistance by CYP to assist the Government to finalise its Youth Strategy. She extended the Vanuatu Government’s appreciation to the CYP.

In her speech, the CYP Regional Director, Ms. Afu Billy said that offering the Diploma in Youth Development Work course was the Commonwealth Youth Programme’s strategy of professionalizing youth work. By incorporating youth development work into the academic arena through the diploma programme it has become an important tool for advancing greater recognition and respect for youth work practice, and the CYP throughout the world has contributed to the academic and social discourse on youth development at the global level.

Speaking to the graduates on Friday night, Ms. Billy told them that they are the kind of leaders that Vanuatu is looking for to lead the youths of their nation.

“You have learnt to lead through good governance practices, to be accountable and transparent, to be participatory, to treat everyone the same, not to discriminate, to be gender sensitive, to advocate for the rights of all human beings, to be democratic, to involve young people in all aspects of your youth programmes, to always adhere to the rule of law and to consult and get a wider perspective of things before arriving at a decision that everyone is satisfied with,” Ms. Billy said.

She asked the Government of Vanuatu for its support to the graduates by incorporating their work into its Government machineries especially in light of any national youth policies that the Government may have developed.

Responding to the speeches made by the officials, a graduate spokesperson, Ms. Josephine called on the Government of Vanuatu to engage them in Government programmes. She thanked the CYP South Pacific Centre and the USP for enabling them to do the course and that they were very happy to have completed it.

The CYP Diploma is part of its Youth Work Education and Training strategic programme area. In the Pacific, the diploma is offered in Papua New Guinea by the PNG Institute of Public Administration, Solomon Islands through the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education, Fiji through the USP, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia. Students from Papua New Guinea are nearing the completion of their course at the PNG Institute of Public Administration in Port Moresby. At home, the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education has just recently taken on another new intake of students and the Solomons may have their own graduation soon.

In Australia, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is also offering the course for Australian students and some from New Zealand but not for long. Discussion and consultation are currently being held with youths and youth development workers in New Zealand with special emphasis on Maoris and other Pacific Islanders living there and with potential tertiary institutions for the delivery of the Diploma programme in New Zealand.

Furthermore, the External Regional Moderators and Partner Institutions annual meeting is being organized in Australia in early December to provide the opportunity for the institutions to compare and share experiences, learn from each other and to identify areas for improvements. Staff from the Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat will also be present during the gathering to listen to the Pacific perspective of the course delivery and the course content and to provide advice.

It is hoped that the reopening in the Pacific region of a certificate level course to the CYP Diploma in Youth Development Work will also be discussed. This will enable those who are not academically confident to be able to access the course at a level that they may find to be more academically comfortable to begin at.