JDF Highlights Importance of Soft Skills in Workforce Development Training

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) says enhancing soft skills among participants in its Skills Training for Workforce Development initiative will significantly improve their preparedness for employment.

The programme, a collaborative effort involving the HEART/NSTA Trust and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), will train 50 young people aged 18 to 23 in Business Administration and Electrical Installation over an eight-month period, comprising four months of training followed by four months of internship.

Speaking during a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ on March 13, Vice President (Administration) of the Caribbean Military Academy, Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Lieutenant Colonel Nadine Notice, underscored the importance of developing the participants’ soft skills.

“The programme seeks to prepare young persons for the workforce, for them to be viable contributors to the work sector; we ensure that they are given holistic development. The programme has two phases – there’s a personal development camp and also skills training,” she informed.

Colonel Notice said the soft skills that the participants will develop are invaluable and key to fostering a sense of civic pride.

“The personal development camp seeks to treat with the soft skills, the employability skills, to teach persons civic responsibility and for all youth to understand where they fall in the grand scheme of things,” she further indicated.

For her part, PSOJ Executive Director, Sacha Vaccianna-Riley, said the entity recognises that Jamaica’s economic success depends on a skilled and disciplined workforce.

“Our businesses thrive when they can access reliable, well-trained employees who are not only technically competent, but have soft skills… ethics, leadership, skills and discipline… those things are important,” she stated.

“This programme, we believe, is helping to close this gap between skills development and workplace readiness, ensuring that young Jamaicans are not just trained but are actually fully prepared for employment and entrepreneurship,” Mrs. Vaccianna-Riley added.