This document discusses the need to develop a framework to invest in the future of young people in Waya Levu village by addressing their wealth and reproductive health needs. It highlights that young people make up a large portion of the population but face threats like school dropout, unemployment, and lack of access to contraception. The proposed framework would provide life skills education, access to health services, community support, and family support to help young people pursue education, delay early marriage and parenthood, and make responsible decisions. Investing in the health and future of youth would benefit both individual young people and the social and economic development of the community as a whole.

1. INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE
WEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
FOREWORD:
This meeting, investing in our future: helps us to identify the
needs and wants of the young people of Waya and build a
framework for accelerating action for the wealth and health of
our young people. This meeting is to develop the framework
involved collaboration between the youth and society.
The framework will set out the core components for young
people’s wealth and reproductive health and renew our

2. mindset to take action towards the well being of our children. It
aims to provide for the wealth and health needs and protect
the rights of young people and to bring about a sustainable
improvement in their wealth and reproductive health.
It is hoped that this meeting will set a framework stimulates
actions to improve the wealth and reproductive health of
young people in the rural and town area of Lautoka and Nadi.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In Fiji and the Yasawa island Region, young people make up a
significant proportion of each country’s population. They are
also major contributors to the lobar force and thus form the
backbone of each country economy. The ability of young
people to contribute to community and family’s productivity
and prosperity, however, depends to a great extent on how
well they can avoid social risk, especially those with low income
earners.
Since in the past our parents and family have come with the
idea to invest in the future development of our village and the
wealth and health need of our young people, and significant
progress have been made in understanding those need.
However, major health and social threats persist, most notably;
school dropout and unemployment, often arising from unmet
need for contraception; uneducated and unemployed lead
young people all mean of violence and exploitation.

3. The benefits of combating those threats and promoting the
wealth and reproductive health of young people are far
reaching. For instance, positive investment in young people can
reduce the likelihood of school dropout and unemployment
and its social and economic cost. We can encourage parents
and family to invest in their children’s future, increase
household saving, and investment, and facilitate higher
productivity in their children’s education. Delaying marriage
and parenthood can allow for greater educational achievement
and improve career and employment opportunities.
The prevention of teen school dropout also reduce social
stigma and help young people remain in school, enabling them
to better care for and invest in their families, communities and
country.
Moreover one of the important commitments a family can
make for the future economic, social and progress and stability
is to invest in the wealth and health needs of its youth. It
sounds investment for the future.
The framework that will be discussed in this meeting will
provide a set concrete intervention or action for parents and
family to undertake in scaling up their responses to meet the
wealth and reproductive health needs of young people.
The framework will have four major components that are based
on the commonly accepted premise that, to practice positive

4. lifestyles that lead to optimal wealth and health that young
people need;
1. life-skills based information and education
2. access to reproductive wealth and health services
3. supportive and enabling environment
4. Support from family and community.
The importance of providing young people with accurate
and up to date information and supportive about their
wealth and reproductive health was endorse in Waya Levu
village in 1997.
Although progress has been made since that time, there
are still major concerns and shortcomings. The first
component of the framework therefore highlights major
strategies to effectively provide young people with life
skill information and education through in school, out of
school, community, work place and family.
The wealth and health of young people cannot be fully
addressed without the support of family, particularly
those that are youth friendly.
THE VALUE OF INVESTING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
The term “young people ’’ includes girls and boys aged
between 10 and 24 years, many of this young people is

5. vulnerable to social threats. Without the support of
family, the young people will get into most of violence and
exploitation, with drugs, alcohol, and kava. Because of
changing environment our young people are at risk. For
instance earlier school dropout and substance abuse, the
decreasing of family support and community and rapid
urbanization and migration to the main land for work-
especially among young people married by poverty
inadequate education and lack of work opportunities
extend the risk of our future children.
Such unfavorable outcome arise when young people are
not equipped with the means to make sound and
responsible decisions, especially in terms of education and
employment, this is to prevent young people from school
dropout. However, to invest in the future of our children
and their healthy psychosocial development of young
people within an actively supportive societal environment
and through their use of appropriate life skill is vital to
ensuring that they develop into healthy and wealthy
adults. Young people are not homogenous groups but are
comprised of various vulnerable groups such as young
married, culture and social adolescents. These vulnerable
groups require special programmes to ensure basic
human right are promoted and addressed. The education
and health problems and needs surrounding the following

6. issues are more typical of and more important for young
people than adults, and therefore merit special attention.
THEARTS
The three factors contribute to increasing rates of
school dropout among young people;
1. Lack of support from family
2. Peer pressure
3. Lack of communication
The infants of young boys and girls are also at grave
risk. In 1997 Youth have taken a great chance to invest
in the wellbeing of our community or village. The Waya
Levu Youth back in 1997 has invested $15,000.00 to
THE UNIT TRUST OF FIJI for the care of the community;
this investment has served its purpose in building the
Waya Levu community Hall and other development. But
the risk of being uneducated and unemployment is still
a threat to the young people of Waya Levu today. While
the socioeconomic consequences of uneducated in
young people of Waya Levu, it is important to recognize
the need to educate our young people we must put all
differences aside and support in investing in their
future.

7. So I call upon this gathering of Waya Levu Youth living
and working in the mainland of vitilevu to be a part of
this quest, in INVESTING IN OUR FUTRE
Thank you!