Youth empowerment continues in MoBay with Workforce Development Training
‘Workforce Development Training is aimed at appealing to young people’s desire to enter the workforce and providing the resources to move them into spaces where they are employable. The Sandals Foundation is proud to help facilitate moving them toward pos
THE STRATEGIC engagement of young people in vulnerable communities in St James continues to evolve with the partnership between the Sandals Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to introduce Workforce Development Training as a part of the Supporting Youth Development through Positive Youth Engagements (SYD-PYE) Project, which has a budget of $30 million.
On January 10, 15 participants graduated f rom a targetted Workforce Development Training programme aimed at enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities for at-risk youths age 18-24 in the communities of Flankers, Norwood, and Salt Spring in St James.
Led by Sandals Corporate University, members of the Sandals Resorts International Training and Development team, alongside representatives of the Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica engaged more than 25 young men and women in sessions on soft skills, job-readiness and a six-week hospitality training programme held at the Sandals Montego Bay and Sandals Royal Caribbean Resorts.
Additionally, participants also benefitted from the Job Readiness Programme offered by the Tourism Enhancement Fund as part of its human capital development strategy. This programme provides successful candidates with a HEART/NSTA Trust certificate in job-readiness, where participants learned how to work together and write a resume, among other things. Candidates were also able to choose between the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute certification as a Customer Service Gold Professional or ServSafe certification in food safety.
Youth engagement and community development are two key areas of focus for the Sandals Foundation, a commitment Karen Zacca, director of operations at Sandals Foundation, said the foundation will continue to make.
“The SYD-PYE Project and, by extension, the Workforce Development Training programme, is about meeting young people where they are. Workforce Development Training is aimed at appealing to young people’s desire to enter the workforce and providing the resources to move them into spaces where they are employable. The Sandals Foundation is proud to help facilitate moving them toward positive pathways and making their dreams possible,” she said.
Dr K’adamawe K’Nife, director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Thinking and Practice and Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica said, “The overall aim is to strengthen the resilience of young people against risk factors by providing direct support through the project to improve the adoption of critical life skills and positive youth connections to schools, other state institutions, their communities and work.”
“Opportunities exist to cause social change, as youth are already contributing to society, and this means that, if channelled towards a positive direction through diversified activities that increase their employability, they would now see themselves as assets to their community,” he continued.
For participant, Sheraine Reddie, “The training was quite good. It was beneficial to us as we got a lot of insight … in developing our resume, prepar[ing] us for the working environment, [and] helped us improve our customer service delivery.”
Since the launch of this project in March 2023, through USAID’s Positive Pathways Activity i n Jamaica, over 80 young people have benefitted from a series of Workforce Development Training sessions, all aimed at sparking interest and providing opportunities for them to develop career skills for the tourist industry. The overall programme is geared towards providing a pathway to employment and increase chances of maintaining employment.