A study of what young people and community organisations perceive as their support needs in Bayelsa state of Nigeria in “tackling poverty” and “how to sway policy makers, using social marketing techniques ?”

This study investigates what young people and community organisations see as their support needs  in  Bayelsa  State  of  Nigeria  in  “tackling  poverty.  It  also  examines  the  process  of influencing   policy   makers,   using   social   marketing   techniques.   It   seeks   to   expand understanding  of  the  poverty  elimination  processes:  not  onlywithin  adeveloping country’s rural  environmental  context,but  also  endeavours  to  generalize  the  findings  more  broadly.  It seeks an inclusive approach to policy determinationdriven byinvolving grassroots levels. A  mixed-methods  research  design  was  adopted  engaging  a  quantitative  approach  in  which 300   young   people   were   surveyed   using   self-completion   questionnaires.   In   addition,a qualitative   study   in   which   policy-makers   as   well   as young   people   and   community organisations  were  interviewed.  A  discussion  group  methodology  was    adopted.  Following the data-analysis, a strategy conference was organized in Nigeria, in which the major findings were  presented  and  debated. This  research  has  improved  on  the  previous  Multi-dimensional Poverty  Index  by  enlarging  it  and  combining  it  with  a  current  Social  Marketing  Technique model.The  new  Multi-dimensional  Poverty  Index -Implementable  Joint  Programme  of Action model is user friendly and retains the multidimensional paradigm. This extension was achieved  through  the  literature  research,  the  development  of  methodology,  adopting  mixed-methods approachandthestrategy conference.The  main  findings  of  the  research  show  that  young  people  and  communityorganisations’ support-needsin  Bayelsa  State  of  Nigeriaare  far  from  being  met. A  great  deal  of  additional support  is  required.  The  most  significant  causes  of  poverty  amongst  young  people  and community organisations are corruption of government officials, absence of jobs, low wages, oil   pollution   and   IMF/World   Bank   conditionalities.   It   was   also   found   that   the   main experiences  of  poverty  include  a  high  youth  unemployment  rate,  lack  of  money  to  go  to school, lack of money to start small businesses, less food to eat, no money to treat sickness, no  money  to  buy  clothes,  no  money  to  afford  decent  homes,  prostitution,  and  absence  of  a public  transportation  system.  The  research  considers  the  ways  in  which  this  additional support  might  be  provided.  Importantly,  the  research  also  revealed  how  extreme  poverty could be alleviated, and by persuading policy-makers to create real jobs and job opportunities as  well  as  developing  employability  skills  and  improving  agriculture.  In  addition,  there  is  a need to attract investors/oil companies to Bayelsa State and to increase investment spending. The  lack  of  social  infrastructure  and  access  to  free  education,  steady  electricity  and  free healthcare  are  also  seen  as  problems.  Finally,  the  research  revealed  that  actively  involvingyoung   people   and   community   organisations   in   policy-decision   making   and   policy-implementation  processes,  including  setting  new  priorities,  or  re-directing,  is  likely  to enhance the probability of ending extreme poverty.