BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN response to a call made by the public to provide more opportunities for the nation’s youth, Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas recently announced the organisation of the Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) programme.
The official announcement came on Wednesday (Feb. 4) during the Prime Minister’s monthly press conference held at Government Headquarters.
Dr. Douglas explained that following the National Consultation on Crime held in December 2008, “a multi-disciplinary committee on youth empowerment” was put together and from that came the birth of the YES programme.
The PM said that YES is designed to operate in conjunction with the Minister of Social and Community Development and Gender Affairs, administered by the National Skills Training Programme and managed by “a multi-disciplinary committee involving civil society as well as the public and private sectors”.
He explained that this is part of his government’s effort to complement its existing strategies against crime and also to promote the advancement of youths.
“...my government is also simultaneously making a special effort to expand the skills base and therefore boost the income generating capacity of our Federation’s youths as a part of our own determined thrust to counter the appeal of thug culture and counter the appeal of crime.”
The programme, according to Dr. Douglas, would accommodate up to 500 persons ranging in age from 16 to 35 years and would cater to their personal development and development of their employment skills.
“...Personal development emphases will be crucial components of the YES project as well. Positive coping methods, techniques for resolving conflict calmly, self control, self esteem, self mastery, will be stressed right alongside the necessary metal work, nail art, plumbing, air conditioning, cake and pastry making, farming, small engine repairs and so on. I also want to say that this all has to come together in a cohesive and practical whole and so the YES participants will receive on the job training as well.”
The country’s leader explained that the marrying of personal development and vocational/technical development is a key ingredient in not only the success of the programme but also in the advancement of the youth.
“I also want to stress that we in the government want to believe that we as a people will miss the boat is the YES programme focuses only on employment skills, absolutely key though they may be. Yes, I want to stress that the YES programme will equip young people to enter fields as varied as construction and business administration, industrial maintenance and hospitality trade and so on. However, working on these young people’s self awareness and sense of self worth is also key if any of this is to work, if any of this is to yield the expected results that we want for our young people.”
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Social and Community Development, Elvis Newton said the programme is not a duplication of similar projects but rather a complementary programme.
“The project YES anticipates linkages, and so as we speak the discussions are ongoing with the Project Strong to incorporate elements of that programme into the YES programme because the idea is really not to duplicate or to set up different structures but to use the existing structures that we have: Project Strong, AVEC, the Ministry of Education. So that is why there is no new organisation in place to incorporate this thing.”
SKNVibes understands the programme will be launched in the near future.
2.jpg)