This 15-page study explores and documents youth networks across the Arctic, together with the communications channels they use and their access to formal and informal education channels. The intent is to develop a better understanding of how to reach and engage youth across the Arctic region.
The principal effort described here is the Circumpolar Young Leaders Program — an initiative for young Northerners that combines training in Arctic issues, communications, and leadership with peer networking and work experience at international organisations involved with circumpolar affairs. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) added distance education to the programme (providing the initial training modules in partnership with the University of the Arctic) and opportunities for face-to-face meetings among the participants during their internships. They also host and manage OOKPIK, a website for young Northerners in support of the Future of Children and Youth initiative of the Arctic Council.
The three tasks of the research are stated as:
- investigation into media channels across the North;
- investigation into education and training programmes available to youth across the North; and
- interviews with young leaders in Northern organisations and communities to learn about their networking and communications activities.
Among the challenges and their impact on findings were uneven survey results from interviews. The interviewers were peer-aged young professionals, which aided in eliciting the quality of input needed. However, limited training created uneven responses and numbers of respondents. Gaining access to informants posed a problem because of unreliable return contacts. Language was a barrier to reaching non-English and non-Russian speakers, and the term “leadership” was often considered in a political or bureaucratic context, leading to conceptual differences between the survey and the answers.
The project produced a web-based directory of artic youth networks and programmes, education and training opportunities for Northern youth, and media channels serving the region including newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. "Northern youth" came from the following regions: Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, Russia [3 from Arkangelsk region and 1 now working in Alaska], Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Labrador.
The observations from 19 interviews include reporting that youth use mixed communication channels, but prioritised interpersonal and face-to-face exchanges. Those working in organisations recommended a minimum of a once-a-month meeting to keep youth engaged, with phone and fax coming second. Email was not a preference. News media (newspapers, radio, and television) held importance. (Radio talk shows were cited as a way for a non-confrontational people to express concerns. Local "communications societies" provide radio and television programming, but were not mentioned by informants. Youth-oriented flyers, posters, and brochures were considered important when combined with promotions or activities, sometimes school-based. Internet access is generally not home-based, and broadband is not commonly accessible. This has implications for distance education via the internet. The community websites may be important for those young people living outside the community to look homeward.
The research identified 90 educational opportunities, including college and training institutes, scholarships, student exchanges, apprenticeships, and other experiential learning (work internships). Some young professionals had gone to community colleges in the North or to universities further away. They also accessed education through workshops, distance learning, and exchange, apprenticeship, and internship programmes. Sports, community participation, and cultural events were considered important communication and learning channels. Barriers mentioned are locally applicable educational content, scheduling that does not consider seasonal hunting, teachers with limited cultural awareness, and science teaching that doesn't have further local application. Also there is limited family support for education, lack of information about opportunities, isolation of schools, and lack of shared curricula and pedagogy. Increased mentoring, increased training in trades, and increased word-of-mouth information on programmes are suggested.
The project produced a list of a wide range of types of youth gathering points for posting on the website, from school-linked youth clubs to regional agencies and councils. Barriers to youth participation included lack of face-to-face meeting initiatives especially those with funding to connect youth over distance), lack of relevant youth-oriented information, lack of networking know-how (including technological maintenance of data), and lack of mentoring for the long-term. Finally, the study observes that, with an increase in electronic media access, youth contend with the two worldsworlds - one is their home community, and the other a virtual outside world.
