Turusuala Community Based Training Centre
Weathercoast, Solomon Islands

Indigo Foundation has supported Turusuala since 2004, providing core funding and support to build the Centre’s capacity and provide students with post graduation transition opportunities as they return to their villages.

Context

Solomon Islands has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, a high number of school dropouts and a sense among young people that they are being left out of community affairs. The majority of out-of-school young people are based in rural areas. Indigo’s initial decision to fund Turusuala was supported by research commissioned by AusAID in 2003 on youth in the Solomons. The researchers asked young people about their concerns and needs, and found that, for both young women and men, the demand for education and training in practical skills was high on their list of needs. Among the categories of training young people wanted, they identified rural livelihood skills courses, literacy, youth leadership and community organisation skills. The staff at Turusuala Community Based Training Centre are working to address these needs through the Centre’s residential and community vocational training programs. In doing so, they have the additional challenge of meeting these needs amidst the harsh conditions on the Weathercoast. The area’s food security is hindered by excessive rainfall, pests and diseases, and poor soil quality. There is no electricity in the villages and poor communication infrastructure.

Partner since: 2004
Project Manager: Sally Anne Vincent (in-country)
Liaison Officer: Doni Keli
Management Committee representative: Reiko Take

The Project

IF provides financial and technical support so that Turusuala can:

• Provide residential and short vocational courses for students in the AvuAvu area
• Run short courses for members of the local community on topics of high need
• Organise quality work programs to assist local community members
• Work towards securing the centre’s long term financial viability

Funding: 2004-2007 = $AUD 3000per year ; 2007-2010= $AUD 4000 per year

Activities

The number of students at the centre has varied from 15 to 31 with teacher numbers of between seven and nine. Student numbers were boosted in 2007 with the introduction of a literacy course which attracted more girls. However partly due to the quality of teaching and also the expectations of families for girls to work in the villages, the literacy course collapsed.

In 2008 the centre provided educational opportunities for 15 students. In 2009 the number has increased to 15 students and 5 local farmers. The centre has started using a block course approach, where students and community members return to their villages to implement what they have learnt after ten days of training. It is hoped that this new approach will encourage more females and locals to undertake training.

Outreach activities in which students undertake work assignments (building, carpentry etc.) for local villagers has boosted the Centre’s profile and brought income into the Centre.

Successes

An independent evaluation in October 2005 concluded that “Turusuala CBTC has been an excellent choice of support by IF. It is the only vocational training centre serving a remote area with a significant population. The Centre is supported by and benefits local communities”. Since then Turusuala’s fortunes have waxed and waned. (see challenges below)

In 2009 significant progress has been made toward Turusuala’s financial independence from IF. At the end of 2008, IF invited local NGO Kastom Gaden Association (KGA) and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Section of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) to accompany IF on the annual Monitoring and Evaluation visit. KGA is one of the few NGOs active in the Weathercoast area and had been working with Turusuala and IF on the design of a Graduate Transition to Village Program. This program aims to give students work experience back in their villages so that they can use the skills developed at Turusuala. TVET oversee the support to Rural Training Centres (RTC) in the Solomon Islands and one of Turusuala’s objectives is to qualify as an RTC so that it can access government funding.

After the visit in December 2008 Turusuala and KGA began negotiating a partnership agreement which was signed in September 2009. Turusuala is one of only ten organisations across the country to have been selected for this new program (KGA is funded by AusAID under its Sustainable Livelihoods for Isolated Rural Areas program). Under the agreement KGA will provide an officer to build the centre’s capacity, funding to support administration, office renovation, and agricultural related activities (including the Graduate Transition to Village Program) as well as training for Turusuala staff. While Turusula and KGA have been working together informally for several years, IF has been credited with providing the focus to the relationship which led to this agreement.

Challenges

While progress in some areas of the centre’s operations has been made, many challenges remain. An ongoing issue has been the quality of teaching and although numerous strategies have been suggested (and some tried) this remains a challenge that has an impact on student enrolment and retention. Strategies that have been discussed but are yet to be implemented are: seeking a volunteer through the VIDA (Volunteering for International Development from Australia) program; sending staff members for attachments to other training centres across the Solomons; approaching donors to use Turusuala for a distance learning teacher training pilot program; increasing teachers’ salaries.

Gender equity continues to be a major challenge for the Centre, reflecting the existing imbalance across the Solomon Islands education system. Feedback from students indicates that pregnancy and marriage are reasons students leave the Centre. The collapse of the literacy program, which was introduced to boost student female numbers at the Centre, was also a blow. Strategies that have been suggested but not, as yet, implemented include: using mothers of graduates to promote the Centre to potential female students and their families; an offer by Solomon Islands National Council of Women to pay for one of their gender officers to visit the Weathercoast to speak to the community about the importance of female education.

Infrastructure issues remain a challenge although improvements have been made. The Turusuala land agreement with the local landowner has been agreed in principle, but not yet concluded. Sanitation and fencing for crops (which were destroyed by pigs in 2009) both need to be upgraded.

Lessons Learned

• Progress can take a very long time, but messages, such as the importance of gender equity, do seem to gain traction eventually, particularly if there is a catalyst to help it along.
• Being located in such an extreme weather environment and so isolated can be a strong marketing tool when seeking other organisation’s assistance. However, these organisations generally want to contribute to an existing support structure rather than initiate their own, which highlights how critical IF’s catalytic funding can be.
• Turusuala’s leadership is weak and requires frequent contact to keep the Centre on track and ensure frequent use of IF funds. However the remoteness of the Weathercoast has greatly inhibited IF’s ability to provide the necessary level of attention so building an alliance with a local NGO Kastom Gaden Association which has similar values to IF and is active in the Weathercoast area has been critical to Turusuala’s development.
  

If you would like more information please contact the project manager at indigo.foundation@bigpond.com.