Aasha aims to work with the young people and attempt to create a positive change in the youth culture in the area that would see a reduction in some of the crime and antisocial behaviour currently being experienced in the area. The project aims to recruit young people, train them and support them in becoming leaders of their community. One of the ‘hard’ outcomes that we seek to achieve is to set up a steering group of young people that could then continue and sustain the work over a longer period beyond the life of this Aasha intervention.
The outcomes that the project aims to achieve are as follows:
1. Reduce offending rates of young people engaged in the Project.
2. Increase the level of understanding by young people about the differences between communities and the acceptance of groups perceived as rivals.
3. Enable young people to make informed decisions
4. Enhance and improve employment opportunities
5. Have responsible attitudes towards self, others and the environment
6. Develop tolerant attitudes through the experience of co-operative activities
7. Adopt safe and responsible attitudes
8. Develop confidence and high self-esteem
9. Promote active citizenship
10. Raise aspirations and awareness
This is related to our preventative work. Aasha recognises the reality that young people do get involved in conflicts. While focussing energy on preventing the root causes of conflict, the project does not ignore conflicts that do flare up between young people. It has a number of years experience in mediating and intervening in conflicts and uses this knowledge and trust that it has built up to prevent conflicts from escalating and sometimes even resolving them. The peer workers play an important role in this part of our work by assisting other young people from becoming involved in conflicts.
