ZoSo in Denham Town: Youth as Researcher (YAR) Initiative

The  attempts to bring youth to the forefront of peace-building through research resulted in the approval of a research proposal on the ZoSo in Denham Town. Team Government, comprising of lead researchers Odane Brooks, Cesone Clemmings, Lori-Ann Willis, Anicia Francis, Ockera Moulton, and Raniel Thompson research focuses on the crime-fighting and community building strategy Zones of Special Operations that have been implemented across different communities in Jamaica.

“Congrats to the team”

The Youth as Researcher (YAR) Initiative is supported by the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO with Prof. Lloyd Waller, Professor of Digital Transformation Policy and Governance in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus) (UWI) and a member of the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO, who will share his expertise in the field of research methodologies.

The focus of the research is to explore the extent to which ZOSO implemented in the Denham Town community has been effective in addressing crime and violence in the said community from a social interventionist standpoint. The researchers were minded to study this area as not much has been documented thus far about the impact that ZOSO has had in the spaces they have been implemented and therefore, it is the expectation that this research will provide findings that can inform policy decisions and future actions by the government.

The researchers through UNESCO would like at the end of the project to be given the opportunity to share the findings with the government and engage in a constructive dialogue to exchange ideas and perspectives from a youth standpoint about how to move forward to implement sustainable programmes such as ZOSO that effectively address crime and violence.

The UNESCO Youth as Researchers (YAR) global initiative was launched in the Caribbean sub-region with a focus on Citizen Security, Safety and Peacebuilding.