Conflict Resolution Education:
A Caribbean Approach
Arthusa Simei M.Ed;
Rita Dyer M.Sc
St Lucia
Overview

A Situation Analysis/Risk Factors

B Caribbean Response

C Research and Evaluation
CARICOM
Economic Union
Globalization
 World Trade Organizations (WTO)
(Banana Industry)
 Caribbean Single Market and
Economy (CSME). One economic
space with the movement of labour
and skills

Economic Activities and Related
Crime
Drug trade (Silent economy)
 Money laundering
 Gang culture
 Transfer of illegal arms and weapons
among gangs

PAHO (2005), UNICEF (1997)
Family Relations
Gender
Female
Male
Live with 2 parents
60.5
Live with mom
Age Group
10-12
13-15
16-19
Total
58.9 59.2
59.8
60.3
59.7
41.2
41.0 43.6
43.5
33.8
41.1
Live with dad
6.0
7.0
7.5
4.7
6.5
Live with other adults relatives
24.6
20.7 21.1
22.6
25.3
22.8
Live with other youth
21.9
15.7 13.4
22.1
21.7
19.0
Live alone
0.2
2.0
0.5
0.4
1.0
Living Situation
6.8
2.1
Child Vulnerability Survey St. Lucia (2005) UNICEF
Nutritional Health 10 - 19 years
Nutritional Indicators:
Go hungry because not enough food in the house.
Sometimes
45.8
A lot
9.9
Hardly ever ate breakfast
15.3
Skip breakfast, not enough food
2.4
Youth Health Survey 2000
Child Vulnerability

58.2% of children at risk

43% children lived in food insecure
households

28% lived with a sick parent
Child Vulnerability Survey St Lucia 2005 UNICEF
Violence Issues

25% teens report physical abuse while 12.5%
report sexual abuse.

11% of 16 – 18 year olds report being in a fight
over the past years and weapons were involved

4% said they used weapons in a fight three or
more times
Caribbean Adolescent Health Survey UNICEF 1997
Violence Issues cont’d

St Lucia 19 murders/100,000
 Jamaica 32 murders/100,000
 In St Lucia alone there were 281 cases of
domestic violence in 1988 and 431 cases in
2004
 Violence seem to be accepted as a way to
solve problems and reduce conflict
Family Court St Lucia 2005
Weapons Carried Most Often
Hand Gun
3%
Other Gun
1%
Knife/ razor
11%
Club/ Bat/ Stick
5%
Other
4%
None
76%
Youth Health Survey 2000
Children Focus Group
Comments on violence
I want to have a baby, but I do not want a
husband, husbands just beat their wives
 I saw a neighbour get hacked with a
machete.
 I would like my Dad to come back home,
but not to yell and fight with my mother

Focus Group Comments 2007
St Lucia
Family Problems
Within the past five years one or both
parents had problems due to:
Drinking
Violence
Drugs
Mental health
19.1
9.0
3.8
9.9
Youth Health Survey 2000 PAHO
Frequency of Use of Alcohol and
Cigarettes
8.2
Never Used
Frequency of Use
3.3
32.6
Cigarettes
Once/ f ew times
Alcohol
12.6
59.2
Monthly or more
39.2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
% Who smoked marijuana
Youth Health Survey (2000), UNICEF (1998)
Drug Use
88% students reported having drunk
alcohol
 26% smoked marijuana
 1.5% used cocaine
This data is worrying as these mind
altering substances are contributors to
crime and violence

UNICEF (2000) – Drug Survey 2006, CCHD (2005)
Adolescents Religiousness
Consider self religious:
Not at all
11%
Somewhat/a lot
69.8
Don’t know
19.3
Never attended religious
services
21.4
Caribbean Youth Health Survey (2000)
Principal Causes of Mortality among 15
– 44 year olds (%)
Cause of
death
HIV / AIDS
15 –24 age
group
13.6
25 – 44 age
group
28.5
Motor
9.2
vehicular
accidents MVA
Homicide
19.8
4.7
Suicide
2.7
4.5
10.2
PAHO (2005)
Caribbean Response
MANDATE FOR ACTION FROM
REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS
Ideal Caribbean Person:
 Respects human life
 Is emotionally secure
 Can harmonize with the environment
 Has appreciation for family and
community
Ideal Caribbean Person cont’d







Has multiple literacies
Is a critical thinker
Is a problem solver
Is morally strong
Has a positive work ethic
Has a creative imagination
Embraces gender differences and similarities
Health and Family Life Education UNICEF 1998
Paradigm Shift


Shift from knowledge for regurgitation
To empowering children with life skills to
respond to their situations
 Why?
Because of the GAP between

Knowledge
Behaviours
Why Life Skills
Supporting theories
 Address developmental tasks
 Address risk factors of children and
adolescents
 Child centered and NOT teacher
centered

Supporting Theories
Constructivism Vigotsky, 1963
 Social learning Bandura 1997
 Resiliency and risk Zigler et al 1991,
Bernard 1991 Whitman &Posner, 2001
 Child and adolescent development
 Emotional Intelligence Coleman
 Multiple intelligence Gardener1993
 Cognitive problem solving etc. etc.

Logic Model Guiding the HFLE
Common Curriculum Evaluation
LIFE SKILLS
Abilities for adaptive and positive
behaviours that enable individuals to
deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life (WHO 1997)
Social and interpersonal skills
Cognitive skills
Emotional coping skills
Social Skills
Communication skills
 Negotiation/refusal skills
 Assertiveness skills
 Interpersonal skills
 Cooperation skills
 Empathy and perspective taking

Cognitive Skills
Decision making/problem solving
 Understanding the consequences of
actions
 Determining alternative solutions to
problems
 Critical thinking skills
 Self evaluation and values clarification

Emotional Coping Skills
Managing stress
 Managing feelings, including anger
 Self management
 Self monitoring

Self and Interpersonal
Relationships
Regional standard 2:
Acquire coping skills to deter behaviours
and lifestyles associated with crime,
drugs, violence, motor vehicular
accidents and other injuries
Core outcome:
Analyse the impact of alcohol and other
illicit drugs on behaviour and lifestyle
Regional Curriculum 9 – 11 years
Methodology
Interactive
 Role play
 Case studies
 Cooperative learning
 Classroom meeting
 Drama
Research and evaluation
UNICEF, CARICOM, EDC
Objective:
To assess the impact of life skills on Conflict
resolution and violence.
To reduce the incidence of risk behaviours
To document the process
Research Design:
Quasi-experimental pre-post match pairs
design. Three years 05 – 08
Research cont’d
Sample
 Three pairs of schools from Antigua,
Barbados, Grenada and St Lucia (treatment
and control schools)
 Matched on size, location, level of academic
performance and student risk behaviour
 Treatment schools responded to lessons on
Life Skills
Research cont’d
Baseline survey -Treatment and control
schools
Treatment schools one module ten
lessons
Monitoring of delivery/HFLE coordinator
on each island EDC overall
responsibility for project
Unit assessment of treatment schools
Process
Teacher level of competency with
curriculum
 Findings. 2/3 fully comfortable, 1/3
needed more training
 Teacher fidelity to the curriculum
 Findings. Time constraints, lessons too
long, limited resources

Student Results
All four countries rated positively on Self
and Interpersonal Relationships module
 4 out of 5 students found lessons mostly
or very useful
 Majority reported completing
assignments most of the time
 Curriculum at the right level and
respected their culture

Students results cont’d
8 out of 10 agreed that lessons were
easy to follow
 3 out of 4 said that they practice many
skills during class
“I like the way all the children are reaching
and answering questions”
“We have fun when we are doing work, it
makes it easier to learn”

Student Application Results
Majority reported setting positive realistic
goals
 Thinking hard about their values
 Getting to know themselves better
 “My way is not the only way”
 Over ½ reported using some skills
outside the classroom

Student results cont’d
Students had a hard time with
 Avoiding fights by using words to
express themselves
 Walking away from a fight instead of
cheering it on
 “at my age controlling anger is a
challenge and it is the correct thing to
do”
Gender differences
Girls more likely to find lessons useful
and appropriate
 Girls apply life skills more outside the
classroom
 Both sexes report talking to their family
about shared values and taking positive
action against stopping bullying
06 – 07 Pattern same across the islands

Findings From Two Countries
Dou you agree or disagree with these statements in
the Self and Interpersonal Relationships unit
Agree
The information was at the right level for students my age
90%
The things I learnt in class were respectful of my culture and
family values
89%
It was easy for me to follow along with the HFLE lessons
85%
Enough time was spent on each lesson that I fully understand it
80%
Different activities were used to keep students interested
82%
We learnt and practiced a lot of skills during class
77%
All students were encouraged to participate in lessons
79%
The way forward
Supporting implementation in remaining
schools and in the rest of the region
 Set up complementary programs and
activities eg. Community mediation
 Policy development and implementation

THANK YOU
THANK
YOU