Business View Caribbean - March 2016 21
tims of bullying, classroom theft and robbery from
other students.
Information from the survey revealed that violence
in schools was perceived to be related to gangs mov-
ing into the schools and communities (27 percent);
easy access to drugs and guns (14.8 percent); and a
lack of positive activities (13.2 percent), among oth-
er factors. The challenges being faced in the schools
and communities were very similar across states
and, in many cases, pointed to issues that had to
do with boredom in school, poor conflict resolution
skills and a general lack of discipline.
According to the students surveyed, strategies to
reduce violence in schools should include mentor-
ing programs for students (18 percent); gang pre-
vention programs (14.6 percent); parenting training
(13.1 percent); and police presence (25 percent). To
date, five schools have been engaged, the smallest
with a population of 400 students.
For CARICOM, crime and insecurity remains one of
the principal obstacles to social and economic devel-
opment. Conservative estimates place annual direct
expenditure on youth related crime and violence in
five CARICOM states at between 2.8 percent and 4
percent of GDP.
CARICOM’s Community Strategic Plan for 2015-
2019 identifies Deepening Crime Prevention Initia-
tives and Programs as an area of focus to build the
social resilience of the Community. The Deepening
Crime Prevention Initiatives strategy takes on board
the CARICOM Social Development and Crime Pre-
vention Action Plan 2009-2013, which provided a
template for addressing the issue through a cross-
sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach based on
five pillars: prevent and reduce violence; foster so-
cial inclusion; promote re-integration; empower vic-
tims; and protect the environment and economic
resources. The prevent and reduce violence pillar
provides the basis for the CARICOM/Spain Youth
Violence Project. This pillar notes “addressing vio-
lence in school settings in the Caribbean is crucial to
efforts to prevent violence in the region” and “com-
prehensive policies and programs are needed to
promote pro-social, non-sexual and physically non-
violent environments in classrooms and throughout
schools”.
The forum, and its follow-up, will accelerate the nec-
essary action, both at the policy and operational lev-
els, to further the prevention of youth violence and
crime agenda and help restore the Community to a
place where every citizen is safe.
