A report by charities and social service agencies highlighted three key problems facing the Island as inadequate education, inadequate life skills and unaddressed family trauma such as neglect and abuse.

The analysis issued yesterday by the Bermuda Civil Society Project (BCSP) also identified gaps in services for young people in high school in particular.

According to Martha Dismont, one of the leaders of the initiative: "There has never been this level of collaboration with all these agencies before, including funders."

Listing concerns relating to education, the report said: "A lack of resources and higher education opportunities prevents the public school system from supporting youth to develop long-term academic and professional goals.

"There is an opportunity for the third sector to complement the Ministry and Board of Education's efforts to improve the system by providing youth development and workforce training programs as well as increasing awareness of opportunities for Bermuda's youth to pursue higher studies."

It noted that the Bermuda College does not offer bachelor's degrees meaning students need the funds to study abroad if they want to one.

The report also noted that the Island's changing economic landscape has placed extra pressure on social services.

"While its booming international business sector has led Bermuda to become one of the wealthiest nations in the world, it has also shifted employment away from low-skilled workers, many of which are part of the native population," it said.

"Yet, higher education to provide Bermudians with the skill sets needed in this new economy does not currently exist on the Island. This creates a paradox that needs to be reconciled in order to ensure that Bermudians remain competitive as potential employees."

It added: "In the long-term, ideally all Bermudians would have access to bachelor's and advanced degrees to enable them to compete for any level of position on the Island."

When it comes to family trauma and life skills, the data collected listed those as key concerns but with a lack of services available to address them, especially for young people. "The data... indicates a greater number of services being targeted toward adults in all areas except youth development.

"The adult focus is particularly noticeable for mental health and crisis intervention programs, where there is only a third of the number of programs available to children as for adults," it said.

"Furthermore, the emphasis in the mental health and crisis intervention area is on pull services [addressing issues], rather than push services aimed at preventing related issues before they occur.

"Considering the underlying influence of unaddressed trauma on many other social issues facing Bermudians, a greater emphasis on push services for youth could be considered to stop the cycle."

It also cited concerns that the youth services currently on offer tend to focus on those of below high-school age. "This highlights the problem that youth quickly lose support as they progress through the educational system, being offered fewer resources that encourage them to succeed academically and establish long-term goals," it said.

Despite Bermuda being the fourth-richest country in the world, the report said funding is spread thinly among those trying to address community needs.

It estimated that there are close to 700 non-profit agencies on the Island, although only around half are registered charities. "Many of these agencies are operating under budgetary and human resource constraints," it noted.

The aim of the BCSP report are to identify the top social service organisations in education, mental health, crisis intervention, and youth development.

These organisations will form working groups to tackle the key problems. The BCSP plans to publicise the report to agencies including Government to ensure services are developed more strategically and concerns are addressed.

To read the report in full, visit www.centreonphilanthropy.org.