Government to Implement LEGS Programme for Youth

The Government will, early next year, commence implementation of a Work to Learn, Earn, Give and Save (LEGS) programme for youth, which will incorporate training, volunteerism and saving.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, said the initiative will be done through collaboration with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

Giving the keynote address at the 2016 National Volunteer Awards Banquet of the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston on December 8, he said the LEGS programme will be a formal way for the State to have all unattached youth in a programme where they are preparing to earn, while also giving back to society and learning to save.

“There will be a special programme of bringing in vulnerable, unattached young people where they will be getting a skill, a stipend and also giving service in critical national areas, and a part of that stipend (will go) to a compulsory-saving programme,” the Prime Minister noted.

Mr. Holness explained that LEGS is in line with a policy direction on work by the Government, which dictates that all Jamaicans must be engaged in a meaningful, rewarding activity.

“They will have that for two years, and when they are finished and graduate from the programme, they can leave with something that they can use to really start out in life; to further their education or start a business,” he said.

Mr. Holness said the Government has also started the development of a Jamaican peace corps, which will engage Jamaicans born overseas and other members of the diaspora to serve in a structured voluntary programme.

“There are many Jamaicans born overseas who want to get to know or associate with Jamaica. I think that programme would bring the diaspora closer to us, create an understanding and, indeed, preserve the link between Jamaicans at home and Jamaicans abroad,” he said.

The Prime Minister also announced that the Government is designing a programme that will utilise the services of retired persons for voluntary activities in a structured way.