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OASYS Launch St. Lucia

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.

OASYS Event

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

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Lack of Regulations
Rehabilitation
Monitor and Evaluation

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

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OASYS Students
Juvenile Justice Logo

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

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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
stewardship and creative arts strengthened

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.

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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.

 

Carisecure

 

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 (Vacant)


Lisa Sargusingh-Terrance

Senior Technical Specialist
Tel: +1 (758) 453-0669

Shahini Gravillis
Technical Specialist
Tel: +1 (758) 455-6330

Tracy St. Claire 
Programme Assistant
Tel: +1 (758) 453-8821

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