Marching Bands Focus on Resource Mobilisation
The Youth and Adolescents Policy Division (YAPD) in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (MOEYI), has been engaging community-based marching bands islandwide in a series of workshops on resource mobilisation. The training workshops were held on October 2 and October 4 at the St. James and the St. Catherine Youth Innovation Centres respectively. Over 30 marching bands islandwide participated in the sessions which were led by business development consultant, Mr. Dwaine Forbes.
Consultations were hosted with community based marching bands islandwide in March 2018 towards identifying the technical and financial resource needs of these bands. From the consultations, resource mobilisation was identified as one of the primary areas for strengthening among marching band leaders.
Marching band leaders from Western Jamaica defining structures necessary to make their bands more attractive to funders at the Resource Mobilisation Training Seminar hosted on October 2 at the St. James Youth Innovation Centre
The training workshops were coordinated to provide participants with relevant information, practice and motivation to take action that will improve their fundraising efforts. Throughout the 4-hr long training workshops, participants explored responses to the following questions as to why marching bands have difficulty in attracting funding, and structures necessary to make bands more attractive to potential funders.
Community based marching bands provide an avenue for engaging some of Jamaica's most vulnerable youth populations. In particular, bands offer a platform for youth who are at risk for gang recruitment to acquire marketable skills and be engaged in positive, character building activity. At the same time, the consultations pointed to the need for marching bands to become better structured, and for the leadership to become more adept at resource mobilisation and skilled in administration.
Marching band leaders defining structures necessary to make their bands more attractive to funders at the Resource Mobilisation Training Seminar hosted on October 4 at the St. Catherine Youth Innovation Centre
Andre Livingston from the Mighty Flyers Marching Band in Spanish Town explained that the session highlighted the importance of structuring the management of the group. "We have a group and we are doing good work in engaging vulnerable youth. With a better management structure we will be in a stronger position to manage resources received and show impact. We are grateful for this workshop", explained Mr. Livingston.
With marching bands offering significant potential benefits to Jamaica's youth population, the resource mobilisation workshop was identified as the first in a series of training seminars to be hosted with marching band leaders. The strengthening of community based marching bands support the objectives of the USAID/MOEYI Partnership for Improved Safety and Security in Schools by provided co-curricular support at the community level, while building the capacity of marching bands to contribute to positive youth development.