JDF and HEART/NSTA Trust Launch Skills Training for Workforce Development

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and HEART/NSTA Trust have embarked on a pilot to engage youth, 18 to 23 years, in a Skills Training for Workforce Development initiative.

The initiative, being executed through the Jamaica National Service Corps’ (JNSC) Skills Track for Workforce Development, got under way on Monday (February 24).

It will see 50 participants trained over eight months.

This will comprise four months’ training at the JNSC and four months of internship.

Twenty-four of the participants will be trained in Business Administration and 26 in Electrical Installation.

The four-month training at the JNSC will be divided into two phases. The first, a Personal Development Camp, will entail four weeks of activities geared towards improving discipline and life skills.

Phase two will focus on specialised training geared towards the National Workforce Development. The training will be undertaken by personnel from the JDF and HEART/NSTA Trust.

Speaking during Monday’s launch at the JNSC Skills Training Facility, JDF Headquarters, Up Park Camp, Kingston, Acting President of the Caribbean Military Academy, Lieutenant Colonel Maxwell Gordon, noted that the JDF, through collaboration, is ensuring that young people are equipped with not just military discipline and resilience but also the technical skills and professional acumen required to thrive in today’s workforce.

“[The participants will] embark on an intensive journey, beginning with a personal development camp designed to foster employability skills, conflict resolution, team building, and mental and physical robustness. This will be followed by specialised skills training, ensuring that each trainee attains job qualifications that make them an asset to the workforce,” he outlined.
Colonel Gordon said the goal is to provide organisations across Jamaica with driven, disciplined and highly trainable young professionals who understand their civic responsibilities and possess the life and technical skills necessary to add value to their workplaces.

Similarly, Deputy Managing Director for HEART’s National Training and Programmes Division, Dr. Cheryl McLaughlin, emphasised the importance of the initiative’s personal development component.

“We are recognising that skills training alone may not be enough to create the type of workforce that’s going to make employers happy. Many times, they’re happy with the skills that we generate but then that respect and the development of those skills that you will learn right here [at the JNSC], that is what is going to give you the edge over everybody else with electrical installation job certificates. That is going to give you the edge over everybody else with that administrative assistant job certificate,” she told the participants.

Dr. McLaughlin urged them to be open to the change and embrace the transformation that will materialise through the programme.

Meanwhile, several of the 50 students expressed eagerness to engage in the training opportunity.

Jodi-Kaye Smith said the programme has given her the opportunity to pursue her dream of studying business.

She declared her readiness to give of her best to ensure a better future for herself.

Another participant, Tyrese Mclean, said the electrical installation programme will take him a step closer to achieving his goal of becoming an architect.

He admitted that while he is apprehensive about the programme, he is enthusiastic to see what it entails.

The Skills Training for Workforce Development initiative is one aspect of the JNSC’s youth engagement programme under the skills track.

The Corps also engages youth under the military track, which offers participants a chance to transition into various branches of the JDF.

The JNSC was conceptualised in 2017 and is dedicated to training and uplifting unattached youth, aged 18 to 23.