BASSETERRE ST. KITTS (December 16, 2009) -- The now successful Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) Programme is taking a two-week break after 18th December 2009 to reconvene on 4th January 2010. However, all the trainees will be paid for that period thanks to the recent announcement by Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, where he offered double salary payment in the month of December.
“Since they (trainees) are paid for the days they have worked, all were aware that they would not receive any payment during the time of the break,” commented YES Programme’s Liaison and Complaints Officer Leslie Connor. “Double salary will kick in to cover the two weeks they will be away and as a result they will receive a cheque to cover that period.”
The news was much welcome by the trainees who will now receive a full payment for the month of December. All will receive their cheques on Friday December 18. Many of them had been calling the YES Programme secretariat housed at the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis building on Church Street to voice their concerns that if they did not receive payment for the two weeks, they would not be able to meet their financial obligations during the festive period.
In the meantime, YES Programme’s Office Manager, Vancelyn Williams, in a communication dated December 14, 2009 has informed all the instructors that during the two-week break the secretariat would be engaged in the process of evaluation after which they (instructors) will receive notification as to engagement in 2010. She requested them to indicate their willingness to continue as instructors for 2010.
“The reason for the evaluation is to see where we are going and how far we have reached,” said Leslie Connor. “We will evaluate the mistakes that we have made during the period from March to where we are in order to make sure that the programme is running in the way it should be run and all the necessary things are in place to facilitate the programme moving forward for the New Year.”
The YES Programme has assisted in the training and job placements for over 1000 young men and women aged between 18 and 35 years. A number of them have earned fulltime employment and have, as a result been dropped from the YES Programme’s payroll. The evaluation to be carried out will determine how to place those still on the payroll.
“There are some secretarial courses still going on,” observed Connor. “The persons in those courses will be doing CXC exams in June 2010. Those people are going to continue until they sit the exams. Some of the trainees are known to have gained enough training to be able to acquire employment or stand on their own, but word we are receiving is that a few still need to be fine-tuned before they could be let loose in the world of work.”
