Opportunities to Advance and Support Youth for Success (OASYS)
Opportunities to Advance and Support Youth for Success (OASYS) Project builds on the work done under 2 phases of the Juvenile Justice Reform Project (JJRP) which ran from 2016 to 2022. Despite the progress made within the Child Justice System, to date, there remains a critical need to strengthen the overall Youth Justice System.
Strengthening Youth Justice System
through the following mechanism
The project addresses the lack of regulations (These are laws that tell people what they can and can't do) and protocols (These are rules that tell people what to do) guiding formal pre-charge (the period of time before someone is formally charged with a crime) and post-charge (period of time after someone has been formally charged with a crime) diversion (This is when someone who has committed a crime doesn't have to go to court or be punished. Instead, they might have to do something else, like pay a fine or do community service.) as well as alternative sentencing procedures.
Developing and/or strengthening appropriate alternative and rehabilitative options inclusive of vocational training, drug counselling, and community service with government and/or nongovernment partners
Developing and/or strengthening appropriate alternative and rehabilitative options inclusive of vocational training, drug counselling, and community service with government and/or nongovernment partners
Benefitting Countries
The Opportunities to Advance and Support Youth for Success Project will provide opportunities for diversion, reintegration, and rehabilitation through country-specific activities, and will be implemented in six (6) OECS Member States
OASYS
OASYS will focus on increasing the diversion of youth away from courts and custodial sentences, supporting rehabilitation centres and diversion programs to use evidence-based diagnoses and treatment and facilitating the reintegration of youth leaving rehabilitation facilities into their families and communities. This goal facilitates the operationalisation of the institutional mechanisms for a wider cross-section of young people ages ten to twenty-nine (10 -29), a shift from twelve to eighteen (12-18) during the JJRP, throughout the region.
The OECS Opportunities to Advance and Support Youth for Success (OASYS) Project, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The project aims to transform participating Member States Youth Justice System through the provision of opportunities for diversion, rehabilitation, and reintegration of youth in conflict with the law. The OECS Commission has received funds in the amount of $5,340,223 USD from USAID to be implemented over a 4 year period, from October 2022 - September 2026.
The Project is being implemented by the Social Inclusion, Social Protection Unit, within the Human and Social Division of the OECS Commission. OASYS forms part of a wider USAID Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) where the United States works to build Caribbean partners’ capacity to disrupt illicit trafficking and transnational crime, advancing Caribbean and U.S. citizen security.
Activities
# | Activities |
|---|---|
1 | Revising or enacting policies and legislation protecting and diverting children and youth in conflict with the law, and enabling criminal mediation revised/enacted |
2 | Diversion, rehabilitation and reintegration strategies and sensitizing justice sector stakeholders and the public on these strategies finalized and diverted |
3 | Policies, coordinating mechanisms, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to guide diversion and referral to appropriate support services developed and implemented |
4 | Referral networks between probation and social services and education facilities to improve youth access to appropriate education and training strengthened. |
5 | Referral networks between probation and social services and education facilities to improve youth access to appropriate education and training strengthened. |
6 | Barriers and enablers in order to strengthen access to and success for youth in conflict with the law in education and skills training opportunities accessed and addressed. Eg: scholarships, adjusted entry criteria, development of curricula that address deficiencies of focus population; support for tools or equipment needed and capacity building for trainers to deal with youth in conflict with the law |
7 | Identified community-oriented programs and developmental programs and national community service initiatives including sports, environmental |
8 | Map of the Ecosystem of reintegrative services and community points such as substance use support, support for gang-related activities, social services for re-integration |
9 | Support the establishment of strengthening internship programs in collaboration with private sector partners and other relevant stakeholders. |
OASYS Partners
The OASYS Project forms part of USAIDs Caribean Basin Securities Initiative (CBSI), which also includes 2 additional projects being implemented in the OECS Member States. OASYS will partner with Y-RIE and CariSECURE to determine areas of collaboration that will allow for better implementation and greater reach for the project.
Youth Resilience Inclusion and Empowerment (Y-RIE) Project will address service accessibility and the capability of service providers, improve the learning outcomes for youth, prepare them for workforce opportunities, facilitate youth connection to professional development opportunities and strengthen community and family systems that play a critical role in the lives of vulnerable youth.
Strengthening Evidence-Based Decision Making for Citizen Security in the Caribbean (CariSECURE) 2.0 will provide resources and technical assistance to improve the capacity of participating Member States to identify, screen, investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases.
Project Contacts
Project Manager (Vaccant)
Lisa Sargusingh-Terrance
Project Manager
Tel: +1 (758) 453-0669
aretha.darcheville@oecs.int
Shahini Gravillis
Technical Specialist,
Tel: +1 (758) 455-6330
shahini.gravillis@oecs.int
Tracy St. Claire
Project Manager
Tel: +1 (758) 453-8821
tracy.stclaire@oecs.int
