Youth Development Programme gets $410 Million

A total of $410.9 million has been allocated to the Youth Development Programme in the 2012/13 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.

The programme, which falls under the Ministry of Youth and Culture, seeks to facilitate the transition of unattached youth to adulthood and the world of work through training, on the job experience, information dissemination, labour intermediation services and sector management.

Anticipated targets for the 2012/13 financial year include: development of systems for corporate outreach; revision of the National Youth Service (NYS) curriculum; construction of two NYS facilities in Clarendon and St. Catherine; development of Electronic Programmatic Inventory and Gap Analysis; and revision of the national youth policy.

Achievements to date include: the conclusion of a labour market study; heating, ventilation and air conditioning assessment of four National Youth Service offices; information technology audit for youth information centres; and the completion of a national youth survey and youth mainstreaming consultancy.

The programme is expected to the completed by June 2013, and is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Jamaica.

By Latonya Linton, JIS Reporter