Abstract
The youth of Solomon Islands are affected by a number of development challenges, including unemployment, a poor education system, and no involvement in governance decision-making. While youth from outlying rural provinces are drawn to the capital Honiara with the preconceived idea of educational and formal employment opportunities, more often than not this is far from the case and this has contributed to youth in Honiara facing marginalisation and a deteriorating relationship with the rest of society, going as far as having the term “Masta Liu” used to describe them. This means to walk around aimlessly, and cause trouble. The aim of the research is twofold. First, I aimed to explore the construction of identity of youth in Honiara in light of limited resources and development opportunities as well as being marginalised by society. Youth struggle to develop and maintain any sense of independent identity and sense of belonging. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Mead (1934) who argues that identity is constructed through experiences with institutions, interpretation and interactions, the project explored how young people form their identity in a context where access to institutions, such as education and formal employment, is restricted. Second, the research unpacked what both the government and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) are doing to facilitate identity construction of youth in Honiara with the aim to provide meaningful strategies to alter young people’s future opportunities that speak to their needs and aspirations. These aims have been answered through the use of semi structured interviews, conducted via Zoom with young Solomon Islanders and stakeholders in Honiara and in person with diaspora in New Zealand.
The overall argument of this thesis is that youth in Honiara face marginalisation and are stigmatised by the rest of society which leads to future orientated solutions rather than support systems for ‘being’ a young person. In other words, society believes that youth must be prepared for their role as adults, therefore there is limited focus placed upon their experience of being a youth. Opportunities and space for being a young person are severely limited and they struggle with an under resourced education sector, limited formal employment, and a lack of meaningful, safe and well equipped youth related spaces across the city. As a result, the term Masta Liu has been recoined as a part of a broader issue of
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governance and society which disproportionately impacts on youth and not just those who are spending time in spaces with negative connotations (e.g. betel nut stall, pubs). Although the government has made a first attempt with the National Youth Policy introduced in 2017, to improve the conditions for youth in Honiara, successful outcomes are limited. Instead, locally operating NGOs fill the void and provide meeting spaces, avenues for opportunities and skills training for youth in Honiara. The thesis concludes by offering recommendations on how government and NGOs can individually or jointly improve the quality of conditions for youth identity construction in Honiara.
Solomon Islands, Honiara, Youth, Identity, Masta Liu, Government, NGO.