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Youth Leaders for Waste-Wise Communities aims to empower young people to take action to develop sustainable futures for themselves and their communities. Using an integrated approach to waste management, youth leaders make links to factors such as rights and responsibilities; collaboration and cooperation; identifying values and attitudes; thinking critically and creatively; decision-making and problem solving. Youth Leaders mobilise communities to explore sustainability issues in their community, analyse their own behavior in light of this information, plan and then take action to resolve or improve the situation. Project outcomes will be interlinked and include pro-active and skilled youth leaders, strengthened governance structures and processes, community waste-wise and composting programmes, and establishing community alternatives to plastic bags.

There are two phases to the project with activities tailored to address the needs of the target communities whilst protecting the environment and livelihoods. The activities will ensure local ownership and sustainability of project outputs.

A Research of Aspirations and Perceptions is a technique, which Live & Learn has proven over time through community development projects to effectively capture and assess perceptions of small communities like that on Rotuma. The RAP will provide a baseline structure to outline the

key focus areas relevant to the situation and the communities involved in the project. The RAP will also provide baseline data, both qualitative and quantitative, which will be used to evaluate the project.

The RAP will consist of a number of research tools, awareness activities, and provide stakeholders with an overview of the project. Community aspirations and perceptions raised in the RAP will be incorporated into learning tools and capacity building programmes. Please see Live & Learn website to download a RAP Report. The RAP was developed by Live & Learn initially as a Rapid Assessment of Perceptions, and was renamed in January 2008, to a Research of Aspirations and Perceptions.

As an extension of the RAP activities, actions generated from the RAP work will be to integrate key focus areas like youth capacity and development, communities sustainability and practicality in the island context. The over-arching goals in sustainability and development of

The outputs of the RAP will identify the situation for these communities across the broader perspective of the island communities in Rotuma and enhance the development of programmes specifically addressing key issues for the target communities. Learning resources will include a range of action- oriented programmes tailor made for the key communities involved in the project. Learning resources will be developed for action- oriented training programmes tailor made for the key communities involved in the project. The learning resources will be translated into

Rotuman, and used by youth leaders to facilitate learning and mobilize actions in the community. Live & Learn will work with the Asia- Pacific Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) to adapt and produce a waste education kit, PLANET (Packaged Learning Materials on Environment) 3: Waste,

which has been trialed in with many communities in developing countries. Live & Learn has been invited by ACCU to use and localize the kit in Fiji and the Pacific. Support for the adaptation and production of the Waste Awareness kit into two local languages- Fijian and Rotuman- has been obtained from the ACCU. Support for the adaptation and production of the waste awareness kit into local language has been obtained from the ACCU. APFED sponsorship will be acknowledged on the developed resource materials.

Training and capacity building will be conducted with targeted youth groups. A major outcome of training and capacity building will be the development of youth leaders who are able to facilitate better waste management practices in communities, actively participate in community

An initial training workshop will be conducted with the full community involving leaders, men, and women to ensure full community support for proposed actions and the lead role of youths in coordinating waste-wise community activities.

Training programmes designed to building the capacity of youths to implement changes will be developed according to the outcomes of the RAP and the four identified focal areas:

 Youth Leaders- Training on life skills and leadership, facilitating and mobilizing community actions, and managing small community projects. The youth life skills and leadership training will build the capacity of young people to participate actively in community development and decision- making. Youth will also be trained to facilitate waste awareness activities in schools and communities in Rotuma.

 Sustainable Livelihoods- Training to improve knowledge of sustainability issues and various ideas, approaches and practices will enable youth leaders and communities to make more informed decisions regarding resource use and management. Resource management plans and procedures may be developed to safeguard community resources. Monitoring drinking water quality will also be conducted as part of this training.

 Managing waste- The main purpose of the training will be to develop the structures and systems for best-practice models to manage waste effectively in small, isolated islands. This will involve sharing knowledge of waste management practices, developing composting programmes, recycling craft, alternatives to plastic bags, which may also provide opportunities to generate income, and other initiatives that may be adopted by ‘waste wise communities’.

 Community governance- This training component will focus on reviewing community governance structures and encouraging the establishment of structures and processes to promote youth leadership and development initiatives.

Youth leaders will participate in a waste education programme, which will involve youths being trained in waste auditing, household composting and waste management techniques. Activities like composting can be used to promote greener environmentally acceptable practices in

farming of possible cash crops. Linking green waste management activities such as composting to sustainable crop farming practices is an avenue to link youth actions to communities.

The youth leaders will visit households to promote waste management, facilitate waste minimisation plans and promote community Waste-Wise practices and actions. Youth leaders will also work with the community to discuss and develop alternatives to plastic bags. Community open- days will be encouraged to demonstrate good compost systems, recycling initiatives and other Waste-Wise community actions. Skills in recycling using natural objects and ‘rubbish’ will also be developed in partnership with local artists. Activities like composting can be used to validate greener environmentally acceptable practices in farming of possible cash crops, through awareness amongst youth in developing a