Over 100 people from various communities on island have received training in the areas of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Skills and Best Practices in construction for small contractors and suppliers.
They were presented with their certificates at a special ceremony held at the Goodwill Parish Hall on Thursday.
The participants hailed from communities such as Delices and Morne Jaune in the South East, Marigot and Woodfordhill in the north-east, St Joseph and Coulibistrie in the west and Grandbay and Tete Morne in the South, among many others.
The programme, which was sponsored fully by the government of Canada through the Caribbean Development Bank, forms part of the Dominica Climate Resilience and Restoration project. It was developed to support government’s overarching aim to build resilience in Dominica following the devastation of Hurricane Maria and Tropical Storm Erika.
One hundred and forty-one (141) participated in the TVET Skills Training, while 43 participated in the Best Practices in construction for small contractors and suppliers training.
“We targeted 135 participants and 141 were actually trained from15 communities on the island in electrical installation, plumbing, masonry and carpentry,” Education Minister Petter Saint Jean said while addressing the ceremony.
According to him, another area of importance is that his ministry was also able to attract a number of female participants from these rural communities who successfully completed the training.
“The ministry set a target of 40 percent female participation with the intention of increasing female participation…in some instances, such as in plumbing conducted at ITSS [Isaiah Thomas Secondary School], 11 of the 15 participants were female and in the masonry course held at the North East Comprehensive School, 11 of the 14 participants were female and in many of the other courses, there was almost a 50-50 participation,” he explained.
Saint Jean continued, “This, my friends demonstrates that with the right environment and targeted outreach, our women are eager to step outside of the box and take on new challenges.”
He said all participants gained new skills sets.
Assistant Chief Education Officer, Dr. Jeffrey Blaize encouraged participants to utilize their skills in the best possible manner both personally, for their own growth and on a voluntary basis, in terms of community development.
“Remember whenever we develop ourselves we don’t do it just for us, we look at the bigger picture. We look at the community, we look at national development and we look at making a difference in the world that we live in,” Blaize advised.
Great initiative. Keep it up.
Nice. So where are they going to apply the skills imparted by the government? In Anguilla? Oh it is in the Saints.