OAS Sponsors Women's Project
By Cherisse M. Sutton-Jeffers
Reporter SKNVibes.com
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St. Kitts-Nevis' Representative to the OAS, Mr. Starret Greene
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(Basseterre, St. Kitts): A number of women have engaged in a project entitled “Livelihood creation for women made redundant by the closure of the sugar industry.”
The project, which seeks to create and provide skills for women who once worked in the industry and who now want to make themselves marketable in the emerging labor market was started in August and will come to an end in March, 2008.
The project is sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS), a multilateral body consisting of thirty-four member countries in this hemisphere.
One of the mandates of the Organization is to provide technical assistance to its member countries to assist them in building intuitional capacity and to develop their human resources potential.
Two major courses were undertaken, one on upholstery and the other on tiling. The women then had a practical session on Thursday 6th December, when they successfully tiled the Lodge Community Centre, ultimately showing that they grasped what was being taught to them. ~~Adz:Right~~
Mr. Starret Greene, St. Kitts and Nevis’ representative to the OAS, said that he was very impressed to see what the women had done. He further stated that after the courses are finished the women will be given the opportunity to attempt starting their own businesses, whether in tiling or upholstery and the OAS will continue to provide necessary funding for equipment and material.
According to Greene, the project also aims to take the women away from the traditional women skills and train them in the more nontraditional areas. He also said he would like to see the women come together to form a local association where they can begin to manage their own businesses.
