PEACE
Since the independence that was attained in May 2002, the country has been experiencing several moments of unrest. Between the year 2006 and 2008, the crises of East Timor obtained most international coverage though it was not the first-time country has faced such crises (Webster, 2016). In November and December 200, there were massive anti-government demonstrations, which resulted in a lot of destruction. There was looting of other people’s businesses, while youths were being used as the vessel to carry out those vices. In April and May 2005, the demonstrations repeated themselves, which was done in the capital city. The rationale behind that protest was to ask the government to reduce the influence of religion in teaching, where youths were the main contributors. It is a scenario which made the country to have some tensions as there was emerging of two groups. One group has embraced English Speaking, while the other one adopted the Portuguese speaking world (Fitzpatrick & McWilliam, 2016). Another aspect that resulted in the crisis was the lack of knowledge of Timorese reality by experts during the transition period. It was the politically oriented challenge whereby the politicians could use the youths to drive their agendas.
The aspect of crises that took place between 2002 and 2008 has presented the Timor – Leste as non-viable or immature country These crises should also be analyzed in the light of history lessons that shifted the identity of the country (Beuman, 2016). There is a need for the state to fit into the international community and embrace the institution structure aspect. Furthermore, the emergency of the different groups, both political and ethnolinguistic, should accept the reconciling logic and compromise. The issue of using youth to intensify chaos did not yield anything commendable. Instead, crises in this country only led to the destruction of property and loss of lives. Besides, it is discovered that it is through these crises that led to a miserable life and poverty rise, which is still experienced up to date.
It can be clearly shown that there was a division in the country as the people embraced different languages. These groups were operating along tribal lines and diverse political ideologies, an aspect that intensified crises (Fitzpatrick, 2016). In such a scenario, there is a need to have an intervention plan to bring the aspect of peace and harmony between the two groups. First of all, to have the two groups in crisis meet and have interaction, there must have an event. At this particular juncture, the sport could be the best tool to have crises neutralized and achieve peace. As it is observed in the core values in the Sportimpact, such as collaboration, it means that having such a program could bring the warring groups together and persuasion made to them to make peace. As it is explained in their vision of using sport power to establish peace, a sporting event could be organized, maybe a football match to bring interaction. While the groups in crises are together, the talks can follow on the importance of maintaining peace for the purpose of the growing economy. It can be noted that sport impact has a high tendency of bringing social change and self – realization of the youths and the marginalized social groups (Bailey, 2016). Besides, it is through these programs that talents can be identified, and opportunities offered to them to further their careers. A part from being taught about the importance of peace, the individuals can also be educated about the consequences of following undefined political ideologies. It is noted that when there is political instability within a country, the leaders ever become victims. In stead, the financially disadvantaged citizens are always the victims. Therefore, such a sports program can be used to create awareness for the people about self – realization and the consequences of economy instability (Schulenkorf, 2017). If the people of East Timor could not have easily influenced by the diverse political ideologies, the level of crises could have been low. If the organization such as sports impact were present during that time of crisis development, these crises would have been minimized, and poverty would reduce also.
Positive Youth Development
The current situation about Youth in Timor – Leste is that there is less opportunity for having employment opportunities. It is noted that even if the youth complete their studies or the skills training program, there is a high probability of unlikelihood of finding the jobs. The key factors which impend the growth of employment include; low productivity of the agricultural sector, negligence of the private sector; insufficient spending by the government to create job opportunities and also lack of adequate access to credit in both domestic and international markets. In 2006, the doing business report ranked this country as the second-worst across the globe while starting a business. It also records among the worst states of importing of foreign labour to work as both low and the average skill labourers (Wigglesworth, 2017). It is noted that there is an existence of a vicious circle that presents a lack of work experience and high booking rage among youths as a hindrance to youths securing jobs. Indeed, the mixed reputation of Timorese labour has made employers sought internationals for skilled and semi-skilled positions.
Another aspect that presents the reality of Timorese youths in poverty. Even if the largest Timorese population comprises young people, a significant percentage of them do not get access to education due to inadequate resources. It is a scenario that leaves them to be less skilled and hence becomes challenging for them to secure commendable jobs. From that perspective, it can be seen the level of idleness among the youths is high (Agans et al., 2016). It is a situation that can call for the effective intervention of making the youths productive. It is discovered that when the expectations of securing by youths become unrealistic, they find themselves indulging in unproductive activities (Goldberg et al., 2019). Therefore, having a program can aid a lot in neutralizing the effects of the current situation of lack of employment amongst youth.
In connection with some of the objectives of starting sports impact organization, it can form a perfect solution to the challenge facing the youths of Timor – Leste. The first step of saving the youths from this undesirable situation is removing the context of idleness in their mind. It is an aspect that can be achieved through involving them in sporting activities. Apart from the youth being educated, they also have talents in sports, and when nurtured well, it can be a source of income (Malti & Noam, 2016). From the mission of sports impact, it can be observed they focus on empowering youth for them to take charge of their lives. For example, if there are regular sports events for youth, the platform can be used to train them through practical projects to become leaders. As the training continues, they gradually develop to be facilitators, leaders and managers (Kendellen, 2019). With these skills, they can secure jobs in various organizations and be capable of taking charge of their lives.
The current situation of the Youth in Timor – Leste is alarming, and some of the intervention is needed. In connection with the goals of sports impact, there are some values which need to be embedded to youths. If these youths are given these values, they can be triggered to take actions which defines the positive social development (McWilliam, 2020). The first value is empowerment, whereby youths from various communities are allowed to air their views. Through airing their opinions, the actions are taken to pursue the future they tend to choose and influence others in that area. The other value which should be embedded to the youths is sustainability. It is the scenario where an organization develops innovative solutions together with different business models to establish projects which are scalable, sustainable and replicable. Another value that needs to be imparted is that of collaboration whereby the organization, through sports events, brings multiple stakeholders together to collaborate openly to improve the value of the youths. Through this process of cooperation, youths are imparted with knowledge and given resources to create the same value, which is important for positive social change (Berman, Chaffee, S., & Sarmiento, 2018). Another aspect that should be imparted to these youths is integrity. The current youths in Timor – Leste are openly exposed to corruption, which is among the issues that have contributed to poverty. Therefore, there is a need for imparting integrity to these youth through having zero tolerance for questions concerning corruption. They also need to be taught about the dangers of abuse, discrimination and any other undesirable behaviours. All these processes and activities can only be achieved by organizing an event such as sport, which brings them together.
Conclusion
From the case study, it can be clearly shown that crises have led to the emergency of marginalized social groups and idleness among youths. The Marginalized social group results due to the division along the tribal line, which intensifies the crises. It is a scenario in which peace creation to save the economy. Deterioration of the economy is one of the adverse effects of the instability within the country, and it leads to poor living conditions. It is noted that in Timor – Leste, the conditions are not favourable, an aspect which needs the intervention of SDP programs to establish peace. Through organizing events such as sport, the marginalized social group can be taught on the dangers of having crises (instability). They can be encouraged to maintain peace for them to reduce the loss of lives and destruction of properties. Furthermore, the disasters resulted in youths becoming idle and political leaders used them to breach the law. Also, the poo economy resulting from the crises is unable to create jobs for the youths, which poses a threat to society due to idleness in youth. It is at this point where SDP programs enter to come up with strategies for achieving positive youth development. Some of the organizations such as sports impact have proved that indeed, sport SPD pogroms are useful when it comes to attaining Positive Youth Development.