Youth Skills Development (YSD) Pre-Technology Programme

Youth Skills Development (YSD) Pre-Technology Programme

The Youth Skills Development (YSD) Programme is funded by the Canadian federal government and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DIFID). This programme is currently being implemented in St. Lucia, Grenada and Antigua. The YSD programme targets unemployed and out of school youth between the ages of 15 – 29 years old and prepares them for further education and training by developing their employability, vocational, entrepreneurial and academic skills. The programme is geared towards the Yachting Sector which is growing rapidly according to local labour market needs and industry representatives. The overall aim of the programme is to reduce youth unemployment and poverty in St. Lucia and the region by enhancing economic opportunities for disadvantaged groups.

The programme is coordinated by the St. Lucia Council for Technical Vocational Education Training (SLCTVET) in collaboration with the TVET Unit of the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development and Labour. The mandate is to train one hundred (100) young person’s comprising of at least 1/3 female and 1/3 male participants in three (3) consecutive cohorts of approximately 33 trainees. Currently, four training providers conduct the training. These include: (i) National Skills Development Centre (NSDC), (ii) Centre for Adolescent Renewal and Education (C.A.R.E.), (iii) Just Sail and, (iv) Wellow’s Aquatic and Nautical Institute (WANI).
The first round began on 16th November 2015 and concluded on 22nd January 2016. Twenty nine (29) young men and women successfully completed the first round of training and were introduced to four areas namely: Customer Service; Performing Life Saving Techniques; Demonstrate basic Navigation Skills and Use Maritime Communication. The YSD Training is made up of three major components: (1) soft skills, (2) hard skills and (3) internship. All trainees are assessed for competence in the four areas mentioned following which, a part-Caribbean vocational Qualification (CVQ) is awarded. This is done with a view to motivating trainees to seek further training for full CVQ as well as to be better equipped to gain employment.
Unemployed, out of school young men and women who are interested in this free training programme can register at the NSDC situated in Bisee for the second round of training which is scheduled to begin on 23rd February 2016.