Oshane Dunstan To Benefit from Flow Foundation Skills for the Future Programme

Oshane Dunstan, 23-year-old aspiring car maker hailing from Rocky River, Clarendon is set to benefit from the Flow Foundation’s Skills for the Future Programme. His participation in the next cohort of the programme comes on the heels of receiving a Samsung smartphone from Flow Jamaica to enable access to the internet.

The Skills for the Future Programme is being executed in partnership with the Caribbean School of Data (CSOD). The programme provides a foundational curriculum in digital and data literacy. It will be executed through an MOU between Flow Foundation and Mona School of Business & Management, with the goal of graduating 4,000 students over the next year.

Expressing gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the Skills for the Future Programme this month, Oshane Dunstan said, “I am very excited to participate in the Skills for the Future Programme. The opportunity to learn about data literacy will equip me with the skills to market my miniature cars on social media and in the online space.”

The Skills for the Future Programme began in March 2021. The curriculum is free for participants, online, self-paced, and is estimated to take students 12 weeks (three months) to complete, following which they are presented with a certificate of achievement. Each group of students is supported by a trained facilitator to ensure they stay on track and have the tools they need to complete the programme. Over 120 students have already benefited from the previous staging of the 12-week programme. The next cohort is slated to begin at the end of May 2021. Oshane Dunstan will be a member of the upcoming cohort.

“We are pleased to welcome Oshane in our next cohort of participants. We were touched by his story. Having gifted him a mobile phone to support his endeavors, we wanted to empower him to benefit from the world of opportunities that digital literacy provides,” shared Kayon Mitchell, Director of Communications, Flow Jamaica.

Mitchell disclosed that the Skills for the Future programme, in partnership with CSOD, is among a suite of offerings from the Flow Foundation, including: Training for Professionals programme, Thehive (a programme for freelancers), and the Jumpstart Entrepreneurship Programme.

Ready for the future: Oshane Dunstan (centre) was in good spirits holding his Flow smartphone and sharing the lens with his mentor, Ilon Dawkins (left) and Kayon Mitchell (right) Director of Communications, Flow Jamaica.

Oshane Dunstan (left) shares the lens with Kayon Mitchell (right) Director of Communications, Flow Jamaica. Dunstan gifted a miniature car to Flow to show his appreciation for the smartphone.

Oshane Dunstan (left) unboxes his new Flow smartphone after being receiving it from Kayon Mitchell (right) Director of Communications, Flow Jamaica.