CATEGORY:POLITICS -------------------- INSIDE GRENADA FRIDAY October 26,2007 (The following article represents the New National Party's perspective) The Government has taken a proactive approach to train our workforce to meet the challenges of a technology driven and dynamic work place, and best prepare for the Regional competition from the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) initiative. Our aim as it relates to our young people is to create an environment of constructive dialogue and gainful assistance that fosters the embodiment of Hope. The national training programme: “The Grenada Training and Employment Project (GTEP) “is a national training initiative that seeks to build the capacity for employment generation and national competitiveness, with the principal beneficiaries being a wide cross-section of youth and adults throughout Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The focus of GTEP is providing the unemployed youth of the country with the skills and competencies required to become competitive in the local and regional labour market and to be successful in life in general. In this regard, the project provides for design and delivery of a programme of training in occupational and life skills targeted specifically at unemployed youth who are at a profound disadvantage in the job market. The goals are to develop a domestic cadre of regionally competitive skilled workers; the expanding of access to skills upgrade that would be required to ensure all willing and interested Grenadians can meet and/or obtain regional, technical and vocational workforce standards regardless of educational background or geographical location; and to ready Grenada’s workforce for regional integration by ensuring access to training that would bring their professional performance capacity to a level that is competitive in the domestic market, as well as opening opportunities for regional employment. The project is to be implemented at 2 levels in accordance with the Regional Qualifications Framework which guides the delivery of both academic and vocational training in the region. The Level 1 courses are for persons requiring entry level qualifications in a particular area resulting in the occupational competence of a semi-skilled, entry level, supervised worker. The Level 2 courses are for persons who may have initial training at Level 1 and wish to upgrade their competence leading improved professional status with complementary increases in income. Twenty-one Centers have been identified to facilitate the GTEP training in the following areas: Auto Transmission Repairs, Bidding and Contracts, Housekeeping, Meal Preparation, Marine Electrical Systems, Painting, Small Machinery Operation, Vegetable Crop Production, Bar-tendering, Bee-keeping, Interior Decorating, Metal Fabrication, Networking, Quantity Surveying, Site Supervision, Waitering, Blue Print Reading, Costing and Estimating, Landscaping, Microsoft Office, Plumbing, Refrigeration, Tour Guides, and Web Design. The Grenada Training and Employment Project (GTEP) is designed to upgrade and enhance the competitiveness of Grenada’s workforce with a view towards ensuring that the country is able to seize the employment opportunities that are being generated by a rapidly developing economic climate in the country, the region and the world at large. The immediate focus will be on meeting the short term needs of the local industries with the greatest potential to absorb persons with low-skill basic training in the short term. The private sector and other key stakeholders were invited to play a pivotal role in the identification of areas of training, and in the design and delivery of courses and training modules. This approach will help to reduce the significant wastage which occurs when scarce resources are used to provide training and the trained persons remain unemployed simply because the training provided is not in accordance with the requirements of industry. This project is designed to be demand-driven with the active participation and support of industry. The training will be certified and will be based on approved national and regional standards. The GTEP Phase 1 programme proposes to train two thousand seven hundred and fifty (2750) young Grenadian nationals in the relevant technical and vocational skills for employability in a number of economic sectors. Training will also focus on improving basic literacy and engendering personal development, through the provision of life skills. The duration of the programme will be between 16 – 20 weeks, during which time participants will be provided with an average of one hundred and ninety hours of training with the equivalent of 10 to 12 credits. A competency-based modular approach will be employed with a view to ensuring the provision of the basic skills-set required to operate effectively in particular trades and at particular levels. Upon completion, a Level 1 certificate will be awarded to the successful trainees. Courses will be led by competent teachers/facilitators with the support of industry professionals. They will include a significant occupational training component. The programme will be managed by the Grenada Citizen Advice and Small Business Agency (GRENCASE) under the general direction of the Ministry of Education and the Grenada Council of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (GCTVET). The cost of the programme is estimated at EC$ 4,864, 230. With all the development taking place in every parish across Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Government wants to ensure that Grenadians are the ones who benefit from the numerous jobs which those projects will offer. We have witnessed the development of our infrastructure and other valuable sectors of our economy now the focus is on the human factor. Through Government’s unprecedented scholarship programmes, training opportunities and consultation we are witnessing, consistent with Government’s Master Plan, a proactive and consorted approach to the development of our people – our “Human Resource.” The investment in our “Human Capital”, with particular focus on our Young People, is paramount. This Government, with all the challenges undertaken, continues to deliver on its promise of holistic development.