HEART/NSTA Trust Offers Globally Competitive Training to Develop Labour Force

The Human Employment and Resource Training/National Service Training Agency (HEART/NSTA Trust) remains committed to developing Jamaica’s labour force, by offering globally competitive training and employment opportunities.

This is being done through the organisation’s Triple Access Strategy, which outlines three priority areas of focus for the strategic period (2022-2026) and is in alignment with the Vision 2030 National Development Goal 1, which is to ensure that “Jamaicans are empowered to achieve their fullest potential”.

The strategy is also aligned to the Sustainable Development Goal 4, which focuses on quality education.

Addressing a JIS ‘Think Tank’, on August 26, Managing Director of the HEART/NSTA Trust, Dr. Taneisha Ingleton, outlined the priority areas of focus for the agency.

“We have a particular strategic direction that we want Jamaica to understand. The Trust’s work is underpinned by what we refer to as the Triple Access Strategy and everything we do is underpinned by that vision,” she explained.

The first component of the strategy, she informed, aims to enhance the quality of training and certification towards improving Jamaica’s global ranking in the quality of technical vocational education and training (TVET).

Citing the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report Index, which indicated that Jamaica was ranked 36th of 141 countries for quality of vocational training, Dr. Ingleton said “this shows that the work that we have been doing in TVET is so exceptional that we would have received such a ranking”.

She added that emphasis will be placed on certifying Jamaicans in labour market-driven and emerging skills and the facilitation of decent work.

Dr. Ingleton noted that the second area of focus for the Triple Access Strategy is that “we want to increase services to youth at risk,” adding that “Jamaica’s safety, productivity and competitiveness partly depend on how well its most vulnerable citizens can find meaningful employment.”

Unattached youth, particularly those in volatile communities, will need access to quality training, certification, and other services if they are to break the cycle of being disadvantaged and be integrated into the labour market as skilled, productive citizens.

In response to this, the HEART/NSTA Trust is providing youth at risk with the right training and development opportunities which will enable them to participate in the economic and social life of their community and country.

The third component of the Triple Access Strategy is to strengthen the TVET ecosystem.

To do this, the HEART/NSTA Trust will focus on strengthening industry partnerships, embracing a multi-agency approach to service delivery, and strengthening TVET integration in the general education system.

Additionally, the agency will also seek to strengthen entrepreneurship, business support, placement services and enhance career development and lifelong learning services and strengthen linkages to international TVET organisations.