Residents from the Petite Savanne Constituency continue to receive the support they need to get back on their feet after the disruption caused by Tropical Storm Erika over the last year.
On Wednesday, August 31st, 61 Dominicans, mostly from the Petite Savanne Constituency signed contracts with the National Employment Programme.
Most of the interns will work in the health services sector as ward aids, domestic workers, orderlies, security officers and grounds men.
GIS News spoke with coordinator of the NEP, Emaline Honoré.
“We are giving them an opportunity to gain an income and provide for themselves and their families. The contracts will run from September 1st to December 31st in the first instance. It is our hope that these interns will market themselves to their employers so that they may be offered permanent employment at the end of the internship period.”
Honoré cautioned the new interns to present themselves professionally at their new places of employment. She also advised the new interns to be mindful of their work ethic in order to attract permanent employment.
People from the community of Petite Savanne and environs displaced by the storm see this opportunity as another stepping stone towards regaining a sense of normalcy and independence.
Chairman of the Petite Savanne Village Council, Edward Thomas, worked as an archaeologist before the storm. He is happy to receive employment now as an orderly.
He says, “I think it’s a perfect opportunity for me seeing as I am unemployed at the moment.”
New and returning interns are also grateful for the opportunity.
Vanessa Clark shared, “I will be employed as a ward aid. I love working with the elderly. I love it so working as a ward aide is an opportunity to work with different people because you can learn a lot from them.”
Nadresse Durand said, “I will be employed as a domestic worker. This is a chance to do something different for once. I have been unemployed for the last year and it’s not easy. I think it’s a good thing.”
“This opportunity is very good and I want to make the best of it,” says, Ivan George who will be a security officer.
The National Employment Programme was introduced in 2013 with the aim of providing on-the-job training and creating employment for Dominica’s youth.
The NEP Coordinator informed that besides the 61 signing contracts on Wednesday, another 164 will commence work from September 1st in community clean-up and beautification and public and private sector institutions.
This brings the total number employed under the National Employment Programme to 1,568.
There are supervisors of the NEP who are using the NEP as a tool for victimization even against people who voted labour. This will only hurt the party. You cannot clean one area and leave another just next door unclean for what ever reason.
the idiot NEP workers can’t see that they will not make any strides financially after a few years of working… cant get a loan, cant buy land, cant improve your life with a hand to mouth job…. I will not be sorry for you all because you can demand from your master that this is not the way to move forward..
Hey “Malgraysa” Nep secures skerrit political aspirations. This government has no vision for young people. I am not too sure if they will ever own a home and family but skerrit has his mansion in viellecase. how can a country prosper this way? A government with no vision and so the people perish. Dominica is so blessed with natural resourses to include fertile land, abundance of water, sand(tarish) yet the government cannot find to this how to make use of this natural resourse. Erika gave us an abundance of sand in layout and other rivers. What a shame. Finally how can a government take 18 million of our money and get a barjan company to build a bridge? Where are our Engineers, Architects and contracting companies. What a shame. This government went further and gave a company 15 acres of lane in cabrits plus passport to generate money to build a hotel. I am just wondering what is this company risk? If you were to go in a bank for a mortgage loan the bank would request SECURITY.
Subliminal mind bending. The Emblem for this programme displays a hammer and spanner, a direct, and not so subtle link to the communist symbol of a hammer and & sickle. In our case, a hammer to macerate our brains and a spanner to tighten our nuts…God knows what they have in mind for women, but perhaps they don’t count in their system? NEP = never ending poverty.
No NEP… National Exploitation Program
So thats what the gov wants for the people?? NEP? WHY CANT GOV PROVIDE REAL JOBS FOR THE PEOPLE… AFTER 17 YEARS MR SKERITE???
its a good thing that the government helping out, but is not tsavanne people alone that was affected and only tsavanne getting spot light, that’s not right to other people, dr are other individuals who are affected by Ericka and needs help to
What has NEP contributed to the national economy? As far as I can tell it is cost factor that keeps wages low and [provides cheap labour for employers, who are favoured by the government by the assignment of NEP employees to their work force, . This is unfair competition to say the least.