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JA-STYLE
Jamaica ’s Solution to Youth Lifestyle and Empowerment
Client: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
JA-STYLE, or Jamaica’s Solution to Youth Lifestyle and Empowerment, is a USAID-funded project that supports the Government of Jamaica to implement the Healthy Lifestyle Policy through the Ministry of Health. JA-STYLE’s programs focus on youth between the ages of 10 and 19. The project is implemented in collaboration with subcontractors Advocates for Youth, Health Strategies International, LLC, and Population Media Center .
With a crime rate that is spiralling upward and data on young people reflecting troubling trends in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, gangs and violence, and drug and alcohol abuse, a comprehensive approach has been undertaken to assist communities, families, schools, religious groups, and public and private sector entities to help young people in Jamaica make good and healthy choices for their futures. Adolescents deserve the information, skills, and opportunities that enable them to seek healthy lifestyles that permit them to lead productive and fulfilling lives.
JA-STYLE’s Primary Goals
- Provide quality and friendly health services and interventions for young people
- Support the implementation of policies that affect young people
- Improve and increase the amount information and messages—developed by and for youth—on healthy lifestyles
- Strengthen NGOs ability to offer healthy lifestyles activities for young people
- Improve the ability of communities to support youth through adolescents and encourage healthy choices
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JA-STYLE operates under the assumption that young people are capable of making wise and intelligent choices when provided the information and the circumstances to do so. Parents, teachers, church leaders and others provide the environment in which young move and they should be supported to provide nurturing space for young people as they make there way through adolescence. Adolescents operate in different spheres of influence throughout their developmental stages. These spheres, graphically represented here, each represent environments in which adolescents spend time and where they will learn, be influenced by and find examples for their intellectual, spiritual, social and professional growth. Thus, the influence of the various spheres changes as adolescents become older; and the effect of the spheres become cumulative in defining the attitudes, behaviours and well-being of youth.
JA-STYLE Offers
JA-STYLE addresses the needs of adolescents by educating and empowering young people aged 10-19 and the organizations that interact with them. Activities of the project include:
- Providing technical and financial support to the Ministries of Health, National Security, and Education, Youth and Culture, to the Social Development Commission and to others to improve choices for young people
- Developing and improving youth-friendly health clinics and after-school programs to provide youth with resources such as counseling, youth-friendly information on reproductive health, and services for disabled youth.
- Supporting the Ministry of Health in the implementation of youth-related health policies, services, and interventions related to their sexual and reproductive health rights .
- Creating and disseminating messages that promote healthy behaviors, such as a public service announcement campaign in partnership with the National Council on Drug Abuse.
- Providing financial and technical assistance to non-governmental, community-based and faith-based organizations to help them provide services and activities to reduce risky behavior among young people.
- Offering training and mentoring opportunities for those working with and for young people to increase their resiliency.
- Partnering with the business community to create new youth programs with strong community commitment.
- Working intensively with high risk, violent communities
- Supporting the creation of sustainable after-school activities
Youth and Private Sector Involvement
Young people know what works for them and are the best resources for developing programmes for their own age group. Listening to them and consulting them for ideas on how to address some of the toughest issues that young people in Jamaica face today will be key to success for all efforts for young people. JA-STYLE’s youth involvement efforts include the establishment of a youth advisory board to guide its efforts.
JA-STYLE partners with the private sector to create new opportunities for youth programming. JA-STYLE invites the private sector to join its efforts to create strong community commitment and financial support for adolescent programmes that create safe environments in which to grow, learn, have fun, and become strong adults with productive lives.
Partners
JA-STYLE’s primary counterpart is the Ministry of Health, but the project also works closely with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, National Security and Justice. Additionally, JA-STYLE works with a wide range of partners across sectors, including: the National Family Planning Board, the Social Development Commission, the National Council on Drug Abuse, the National Centre for Youth Development, the Child Development Agency, local community-, faith-based and non-governmental organizations, and international partners, such as UNICEF , US Peace Corps, Family Health International, and MEASURE Evaluation.
Geographic Focus
Islandwide
For more information, contact:
Ann Marie Campbell, MPH, BSN
Chief of Party
JA-STYLE
5 th Floor
Ministry of Health
2-4 King Street
Kingston
Jamaica, West Indies
acampbell@urc-jamaica.com
Tonja Cullen, MHS
Senior Program Officer
International Development Group
University Research Co., LLC
Bethesda, Maryland USA
tcullen@urc-chs.com
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