Capacity Development Workshop in Progress at UTECH

A three-day Capacity Development Workshop aimed at helping to move Jamaica’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) agenda forward and empowering administrators is in progress at the University of Technology (UTech).

Hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and Vocational Education (UNESCO-UNEVOC), in association with HEART Trust/NTA and UTech, the workshop, which opened today (October 9), is being held under the theme ‘Moving to Action through Collaborative Capacity Development’.

In his message read by Senior Director, TVET Development and Support, HEART Trust/NTA, Dr. Marcia Rowe-Amonde, Executive Director, HEART Trust/NTA, Dr. Wayne Wesley, said the aim of the three-day workshop is to directly address two of the three main pillars of the UNESCO TVET Strategy for 2016-2021.

These include Fostering youth development and entrepreneurship, and facilitating the transition to green economies and sustainable societies.

“Youth employment is an area that requires attention and resources. A number of Caribbean territories need access to quality training and certification, such as the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) if they are to break the cycle of being disadvantaged and be integrated in the labour market as skilled and productive citizens,” Dr. Wesley said.

“Regional citizens also need opportunities to establish and sustain entrepreneurial ventures. The prosperity of the region is hinged on the ability of entrepreneurs to use scarce resources efficiently to start and sustain successful enterprises,” he added.

Dr. Wesley said TVET aims to help not only Jamaica’s unattached and skills-seeking youth, but youth and others in the Caribbean region and nations such as Canada, who are a part of UNESCO-UNEVOC’s TVET programme.

“According to data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), 73.4 million young people were estimated to be unemployed in 2015 (13.1 per cent youth unemployment rate), and this figure is expected to increase in most regions by 2017.

Youth need access to quality training and certification, such as the Caribbean Vocational Qualification, if they are to break the cycle of being disadvantaged and be integrated into the labour market as skilled and productive citizens,” he said.

International Development Officer, Bow Valley College in Canada, Mr. Tristan Cole, who also spoke, told JIS News that the aim is to share information, build relationships between partners and to look for new ways to collaborate and build the capacity of stakeholders in education.

Mr. Cole said he would like to develop more partnerships from the workshop and, hopefully, have exchange programmes between Canada and Jamaica.

Dean of the Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies, UTech, Dr. Rohan Lewis, said he is looking forward to the insights and opportunities being presented at the workshop, especially with Canada.